


Of Luck and Lack of Forethought

by izumi2



Series: Random Stories (Civil War Team Iron Man) [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: 5+1 Things, Civil War Team Iron Man, Let’s make this a tag, Not Iron Man 2 Compliant, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Vision becomes J.A.R.V.I.S again, not SHIELD friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 11:02:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16742746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izumi2/pseuds/izumi2
Summary: 5 Times That Lack of Forethought Ruined Team Cap’s Plans (since their plan counted on sheer luck) and 1 Time That They Got What They Wanted…sort of.~*~#Civil War Team Iron ManModerated because trolls





	1. The Good Ones Go If You Wait Too Long

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: all rights reserved to proper parties, I'm just having fun, if you notice transcripts from the movie, they're not mine to take credit for.
> 
> This was inspired by many fics, the first chap specially by the awesome Time Travel fics:  
> [Anew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11985126/chapters/27111240) by Iviv.  
> [A Father's Son](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14066796/chapters/32406264) by dnky  
> And of course:  
> [If You Had This Time Again](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10920276/chapters/24286317) by dls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quote by Drake.

2008 – Iron Man.

2009.

_“Sir, if the palladium keeps hitting your bloodstream…”_

“It won’t be good, I know.”

_“I believe the word is: understatement.”_

Even through the headache and hazy vision, Tony couldn’t help the smile at JARVIS’ sass.

With another grimace, Tony rubbed his throbbing temples. The pain in his muscles (aside from his brain), the memory loss, confusion and depression were symptoms that were a little harder to hide than the insomnia, heart palpitations and difficulty in breathing. Despite their long time joking about the fact that Tony couldn’t even remember his social security number, Rhodey, Pepper and Happy knew that he had eidetic memory, it was impossible for him to forget once he read it.

He was not looking forward for the face paralysis or the kidney and liver diseases.

Sooner or later, they were bound to find out.

The memory of the first time he got drunk at 14 and college freshman and Jarvis forced him to tell his mom surfaced, _“I believe your mother would rather hear it from you than from third parties.”_

And it’s not that Tony disagreed, it just has been a very long time since he had to justify himself to anyone that actually cared about him.

The few family members he had left either hated his guts (his cousin) or were perfectly content to live up to the eccentric uncle role (his uncle… obviously).

Tony had no reference if it was preferable to rip the Band-Aid off and tell his friends when all was done and over with (meaning him dead or cured)… or months of agonizing discussions and, as well meaning as it would be, hovering.

_“Sir, Ms. Potts is asking for permission to enter.”_

Their awkward back and forth since Iron Man was still full force and Tony just…he would have said something months earlier if it wasn’t for whole, ‘the one thing keeping him alive was also killing him’ thingy.

“Let her in, Jay.”

The sound of Pepper’s killer heels shouldn’t be so comforting and nervous-inducing at the same time.

“Tony, PR contacted me about some projects that could potentially boost SI’s image now that our stocks recovered from last year.”

“Lay it on me.” He put his screwdriver aside.

“JARVIS, can you open the file on Stark Expo?”

At her words, Tony frowned, “That relic? There hasn’t been one since Howard was still around.”

“And the schematics haven’t changed since 1973, yes. But next year SI will be completing seventy years as a company and PR wants to do something to celebrate it at the same time that it could take attention off of Iron Man and back to the tech we are developing.”

“And they think that the Expo is the answer to it?”

“With a few twists, like inviting a few prospective scientists with promising projects and presenting them as well, friendly or even rival companies would have the chance to show off their work. But to show our long tradition as company not just as a weapons manufacturers, PR thinks that using the last model at least as a basis would be the way to go, especially since it seems to have sentimental value for Howard Stark since he didn’t change it once in almost two decades.” She motioned to the model on holo-screen.

The last time Howard changed a single building was indeed in 1973 and Tony could still recall how… defensive he would get if anyone suggested a single change in the subsequent years.

Then 1991 came and Tony just couldn’t be bothered with something that honestly, in the big scheme of things, just wasn’t bringing anything to SI as a whole besides good PR… as it was being suggested again.

Tony couldn’t even understand why Howard insisted on doing it every couple of years, why he was so mad at a four year old Tony just because he took one of the buildings. He didn’t damage it and Howard knew that Tony was careful, that was already after he build that first circuit board and yet that thing seemed to be worth mountain of diamonds for Howard…

Pepper was still talking but Tony wasn’t paying attention anymore, her voice, usually calm and low was background noise.

Unknown to Tony himself, his head tilted and his eyes narrowed, the expression on his face made Pepper pause and stare back in concern.

The buildings…

“Jay, put it upright.”

The hologram changed and the model was facing him like a giant TV screen.

Tony rolled his chair closer, forcing Pepper to take a step back, “What does it look like to you, Jarvis? Not unlike an atom,” He manipulated motioned to the globe right in the middle, “in which case the nucleus would be here.” The inventor pointed, “Highlight the unisphere.” He enlarged the Earth model, “Lose the footpaths. Get rid of them.” With a wave of his hand, the model was a little clearer.

 _“What is it that you’re trying to achieve, sir?”_ a little behind Tony, it was clear that it was a question Pepper wanted an answer to as well.

“I’m discovering…uh, correction, I’m re-discovering a new element… I believe. Lose the landscaping, the shrubbery, the trees. Parking lots, exits, entrances. Structure the protons and the neutrons using the pavilions as a framework.”

Once it was done, Tony just couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Dead for almost twenty years, still taking me to school.”

_“The proposed element should serve as a viable replacement for palladium.”_

“Thanks, Dad.” Tony muttered.

_“Unfortunately, it is impossible to synthesize.”_

“Tony what is going on?”

With a jolt that almost took him to the ground, Tony turned to be face to face with a befuddled Pepper.

With a higher pitch than he ever remembered having, Tony squeaked out, “Oh, hi.”

~*~

The last time Tony managed to get out of trouble pulling off ‘cute’ was when his mom had to go talk to a teacher in MIT because he blew up one of the labs… but he was fourteen when he was in MIT, so pouting just a little not to overdo it and widening his so called Bambi eyes were enough to convince his mom that a stern talking to was enough, then they spent the rest of the afternoon downing lattes that he really shouldn’t have.

Something told Tony that even if Rhodey was the one to point out that he had Bambi eyes, they wouldn’t be enough to get out of this one.

“Dying?! **_Dying_**?! DYING!” it was Pepper yelling the word with different kinds of inflections as if trying them out but it was Happy’s pursed lips and Rhodey’s deadpan that was making Tony bit his lip.

“Uh… I feel the need to emphasize that it could be past tense ‘was’ if you guys let me build the Hadron Collider now…”

Pepper hissed in such terrifying way that for one second Tony was honestly scared of being scratched… by high heels of hell instead of claws.

“Will you die in the next fifteen minutes?”

Tony blinked at Rhodey, “Uh… estimates indicate eight to ten more months before it’s critical and almost an year before it becomes irreversible and…uh… death.”

“Then you’ll be fine.” Came the completely emotionless response much to Tony’s chagrin that went back to biting his lip.

~*~

After yelling and half-hearted accusations and tears – and Tony hated when Pepper cried – and Happy grunting his very disappointed displeasure and Rhodey glaring a hole through his skull for the next month that he very conveniently had of accumulated vacation, Tony build the Hadron Collider… after destroying the ground and the walls – and it was Pepper’s turn to bit her lips but in consternation.

And Starkium was created.

“You know… this thing’s properties kinda remind me of the ones Dad noted down about Captain America’s shield.”

The muttered and casual comment made Rhodey’s eyes pop out of their sockets.

~*~

“Tony this is huge! We can’t reveal it to **_anyone_** before everything is airtight, legal is already working on it overtime so the other projects will need to be put on temporary hold.”

“Pep, I know the game, the only sightings of Tony Stark are Iron Man retrieving or destroying tech and charity functions, otherwise this,” he tapped the new reactor, “meaning me, is not going public any time soon. Total seclusion unless it is absolutely necessary for me to make an appearance, I’m eccentric, ask anybody.”

His trusty PA nodded firmly, “With any luck, patents will be ready by the time we finish building for Stark Expo, invitations have been sent and we already received confirmation from most of them and…Justin Hammer will be in attendance?” she raised an eyebrow.

Tony shrugged completely unrepentant, “I have a habit to rub his face in since MIT and well, the Expo is all about tradition, right?” cue shit eating grin.

 Pepper rolled her eyes, “Sure.”

~*~

2010 – Iron Man 2.

“This is the first Stark Expo in almost twenty years! Everybody who is anybody seems to be in attendance or will be in attendance in this event that in three months will be made public for anyone who is lucky enough to secure a ticket! Scientists and artists from everywhere will be here, tonight is just a little taste of things to come, and here comes Iron Man!”

Shoot to Thrill blasted through the speakers and people didn’t know what was more deafening, the music or the huge crowd.

“Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations. And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1991, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future. It's not about us. Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back to the Stark Expo. And now, making a special guest appearance from the great beyond to tell you what it's all about, please welcome my father, Howard.”

Behind Tony, the huge screen turned on and a record of Howard Stark began, the last Expo before 1991.

_“Everything is achievable through technology. Better living, robust health and for the first time in human history, the possibility of world peace. So, from all of us here, at Stark Industries, I would like to personally introduce you, to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind, and will one day rid society of all its ills. Soon, technology will affect the way you live your life every day. No more tedious work, leaving more time for leisure activities and enjoying the sweet life. The Stark Expo. Welcome.”_

~*~

“Mr. Stark, can we pick up where left off? Mr. Stark, please.”

“Yes, dear?” several of the politicians and military laughed at his flamboyant personality.

“Can I have your attention?”

 “Absolutely.”

…

“It’s a high tech prosthesis.” More laugher.

…

“I am Iron Man, the suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be turn over myself, which is tantamount to indentured service or prostitution depending on what state you’re in. You can’t have it.” Tony didn’t react but the amusement was what he was going for.

“I’m no expert…”

“In prostitution? Of course not, you’re a senator, come on!” at his peace sign, they felt like they were in a stand up.

“But we have here some who is an expert, I’d like to call now Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor.”

“Let the record reflect that I observed Mr. Hammer entering the chamber and I’m wondering if and when any actual expert will also be in attendance.” Even Pepper couldn’t deny that although far from the place for it, Tony made seasoned professionals his personal audience.

…

But Tony made a U turn when they called Rhodey in as well, _sons of a bitch._ Several of the politicians that had a slightly weaker spine wilted a little under Tony’s stare. It wasn’t even a proper glare, just the intensity of it made them wondering how in hell People’s magazine described them as Bambi eyes.

…

“I have before me a complete report on the Iron Man weapon, compiled by Colonel Rhodes. And Colonel, for the record, can you please read page 57, paragraph four?”

“You’re requesting that I read specific selections from my report, Senator?” Rhodey knew how to play this game, with a lot less fanfare than Tony but driving the point home just as brutally, knowing full well that all of this is being recorded legally and to the public.

“Yes, sir.”

“It was my understanding that I was going to be testifying in a much more comprehensive and detailed manner.”

“I understand, a lot of things changed today.”

…

“You do understand that reading a single paragraph out of context does not reflect the summary of my final…”

“Just read it, Colonel, I do. Thank you.”

His expression didn’t show it but Rhodey smirked a little inside.

“ _As he does not operate under any definable branch of the government, Iron Man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interests_. I did, however, go on to summarize that the benefits of Iron Man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interest to fold Mr. Stark in the existing chain of command.” Rhodey completed, undeterred despite Stern’s attempt to stop him.

“I’m not a joiner but I’ll consider Secretary of Defense if you ask nice. We can amend the hours a little bit.” Although many of his peers laughed, Rhodey couldn’t help but reach for his water at the thought.

Not that Tony wouldn’t make a very good, almost terrifyingly cutthroat, Secretary. But this much Tony in the military would make him prematurely grey.

~*~

When Natalie Rushman took Happy down in a move that Tony and Pepper have only ever seen in movies, well… they sure reacted appropriately.

“Wow! Knockout!”

And the three waited for the redhead femme fatale to walk away.

“Do you think she is one of them or someone else’s?” Tony could appreciate the view and still do his job.

“SHIELD has been strangely quiet. Aside from Director Fury’s attempt to recruit you, there have been no more sightings of Phil or anyone else.” Pepper muttered.

“I will tight up the security, Boss.”

“You do that, in the meantime, Jay?”

_“Three dozen of bugs have been located, sir, the process of scanning their databases are at 83%”_

“Highlight the hotspots, will you.”

_“Yes, sir.”_

“About the other three candidates?” Pepper prompted.

“How long has she been around?”

“A month next week, she is still in probation period, so to speak.”

“Hmmm…well, legal aids should be through.” Catching up, Pepper smiled back.

“Yes, they should.”

“How you want to do this?”

“Well, I believe that Ms. Rushman unfortunately is not the one for you, Mr. Stark but a spot just opened up in legal…under the careful supervision of Jocasta.”

“The new division? Oh, but a career there could take years, Iron Man after all is almost unprecedented, no frame of reference to work with, no basis to build on, they are almost swinging it. Honestly sometimes I think that they’re just seeing the carrot and **_think_** that if they run long enough, it’ll be within reach.”

“Well… careers are a long path to take, but Ms. Rushman seems like the dedicated type, if she wants to expand her curriculum, the minimum she could expect is years of hard work…like everyone else.”

They exchanged smiles.

~*~

“I think that we’ll need to rush the presentation of the new tech, Tony.”

The physician just got done with the scratches from the road hash.

“The plan was for the final presentation, Pep.”

“Yes, but after that Senate hearing.”

“Blood in the water.” He recited again, “Perhaps it’s time to break out the other one.”

~*~

“Tony, I’m pretty sure it’s **_your_** birthday.”

“Yep, but yours is right around the corner too and you know how bad I am with dates.”

Tony grinned at him and Rhodey sighed and looked back at the much bulkier, steel colored power suit.

“Madonna burst out of a cake the size of a truck and you built me a car from scratch that if it was any faster it would reach Mach speed…my birthday was last month.”

“Then consider it a Christmas gift.”

“Half a year away still, Tony.”

“Black Friday then.”

The Colonel rolled his eyes.

~*~

“This has been some year, uh? It’s not even august yet.” the laugher was as subsided and he expected and to be frank what Tony wanted was to be back home, in his bed, he would say his hot tub but last time he fell asleep in it and almost gave Pepper and Rhodey a heart attack.

“First off, I want to start this chronologically so, Ivan Vanko. His father, Anton Vanko was a Soviet that seemly deserted and collaborated with Howard Stark in the Arc Reactor technology. Then it turned out that he wasn’t as disloyal to Russia as he first led America to believe and tried to run off with the Arc Reactor. That expression right there,” Tony motioned to the baffled reporters, “was my reaction too, the Reactor he worked with Dad was the size of a room and don’t ask me how he wanted to ‘run off’ with a few tons in his back pocket because I won’t have an answer for you. The alternative is that he wanted the blueprints… again not doable because Howard would just recreate the whole thing, perhaps killing my dad as the package deal? Whatever the case, in fewer words: Anton Vanko worked in the Arc Reactor with Howard Stark, tried to steal it back to Russia, Howard found out and had him deported. Because ‘sins of the father’ became his mojo, his son, Ivan Vanko tried to take it out on me. Due to sensitive information pertaining to my father I wasn’t even aware of either Vanko until the son showed up in Monaco and now I let the newly promoted Air Force Colonel James Rhodes have the stage.”

Rhodey suppressed an eye roll and walked up. The stage for the Stark Expo was being temporarily used to address the press and the public so he couldn’t even complain the use of the word, ‘stage’.

“Investigations concluded that Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries have been collaborating with Ivan Vanko since his apprehension in Monaco. The designs of the new fleet of power suits are on Mr. Vanko financed by Mr. Hammer. While Justin Hammer’s goal has always been personal success, he was not counting and was unaware of the deep vendetta that his new associate had with Dr. Stark. Due to his personal and political ties with the Russian government, the American military has decided to completely destroy and annul the contract for more power suits from Hammes Industries and personally see to the reconstruction of the Stark Expo’s buildings. The newly instated War Machine however is being maintained by Tony Stark personally and utilized by me, integrated in the existing chain of command and now Ms. Potts will address you.”

“Two years ago, since Dr. Stark has revealed himself as Iron Man, we were first approached by one Philip Coulson that has since been identified as an U.S Army Ranger before being made an agent of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, Logistic Division or SHIELD for short. Even with Dr. Stark’s long history as a government contractor, he never heard of such organization before and requested Colonel James Rhodes’ help in this new endeavor. Howard Stark, the founder and former CEO of Stark Industries was one of SHIELD’s founders however it can be questioned whether Howard Stark could have reasonably be expected to know how an intelligence agency operates, regardless, we turned over the information to the proper authorities and have since found out that the former Senator Stern has deep involvement in many of SHIELD’s dealings and thus explaining this mornings’ news of his arrest. Dr. Stark will now have the floor.”

Tony walked to the mic and if it was any other occasion, he would smirk at the dumbfounded sea of people before him, “Lawsuits were levied and we settled out of court for the return of my father’s property before I was made aware of their… recruitment MO: A SHIELD spy was sent to Stark Industries, Natalia Alianova Romanova or Natasha Romanoff or Natasha Romanov or Natalie Rushman a former KGB agent and a graduate from the Red Room, Russia’s response to Hydra’s Winter Soldier, the Red Room and Hydra were close allies during the World War II and the Cold War. As Ms. Romanova is in her late twenties, questions need to be raised whether the Red Room and therefore Hydra is still active.

That coupled with the fact that the FBI and CIA had uncovered Operation Paperclip. In the effort of keeping them out of Soviet hands, SHIELD enlisted a number of scientists from Nazi Germany, up to and including Arnim Zola, Johann Schmidth, better known as the Red Skull’s right hand man. As Ms. Romanova’s presence made clear, SHIELD hasn’t changed their recruitment parameters ever since. While I’m all for a good redemption history given my own, I would like for the mistakes in which we, Americans, are forgiving them for, to be acknowledged so we will at least know what we are forgiving them for even if we had no choice but to give them second chances in our soil. In light of these revelations, Stark Industries, founded in 1940 as it is, wants to make clear that neither I, as Iron Man or Tony Stark, have any affiliation of partnership of any kind with SHIELD. Thank you.”

As they felt the sharks closing in, Fury couldn't believe what he was seeing, how Stark manage to find the solution without his father's notes? Natasha was almost dying of boredom delivering papers and playing almost secretary in SI's legal department, being spoon fed scraps of info that were almost never delivered to SHIELD directly without a through screening process from SI that were just 'protocol' and Phil Coulson never again manage to go unnoticed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to movie canon, there hasn't been a Stark Expo since 1974... that model of the last one has been sitting pretty in Tony's office at SI for more than forty years... almost twenty since he assumed office...
> 
> Headcanon: for me to fix Marvel's screwed up timeline I had to play fast and loose with the plot... ok, first off, that recording says it was 1973 and Tony was clearly there, all chubby faced. So, the MODEL was from '73/'74 but Howard kept the thing going without any alterations until his death. So the MODEL is from '74 (and never altered again), but Tony is still 17 when his parents died because holy shit, Marvel, get AT LEAST your timeline straight.
> 
> In CANON: '74 was the very last Expo (just the slightest open enough for me to wiggle my own interpretation and headcanon in), I don't think that was just coincidence or a detail to be brushed aside, Howard had just discovered a new element and had to hide it SOMEWHERE. I very much doubt that SHIELD understood the message hidden there, for them it would be a last message to his son that was too young to understand the struggles of the adult world otherwise why they had to rely so heavily on Tony? Bonus because this was clear emotional manipulation to nth degree that worked so beautifully in SHIELD's favor.
> 
> Anyways, be it my version or Howard's sudden stop with the Expo (that thing ran from the forties until the seventies, out of nowhere he stops and no one questions?), that model was ALL Tony needed to synthesize his new element.
> 
> At the end of the day, what exactly SHIELD helped Tony in Iron Man 2? There were a few plot twists:
> 
> 1) **The Palladium poisoning** , it was a stroke of dumb luck for Tony not to find it before SHIELD could be useful (hence my fic) -- seriously, idk why they decided to revive the Expo in canon, in my fic it's because SI was completeing seventy years and yada yada. But the last model was bound to be in discussion and that was it. THAT was all the hint Tony needed. There was nothing on Howard's notes (despite what SHIELD seems to think), it was all the model. Sure, that record made Tony pay attention to it, but even thou I have no idea how long it would take to organize something like the Expo, I gave it one to two years minimum (I mean, a Marvel movie of two hours takes an year, an event that goes ALL YEAR LONG has to take at least just as long to plan). Forcing Tony to pay attention to it when he was already looking for alternatives and that was it.
> 
> 2) **Ivan Vanko** \- plus Justin Hammer but he was so inconsequential all things considered. The only thing that Hammer contributted to the movie was give Vanko the resources necessary to for Tony and Rhodey to have that awesome fight. Either way, SHIELD didn't predict Vanko because if they knew that there would be another source for the Arc Tech and that someone else clearly knew about the Palladium problem, why not give all the hints to Vanko instead? As Natasha's presence proved, it's not because he has some uncomfortable ties with Russia that it's going to stop SHIELD from making friends with him. Credit where credit is due: Natasha manage to hack Rhodey's suit back... that was it.
> 
> About Rhodey's suit: no one noticed how weird is it that as violently as Tony guards his suit… and his specs (obviously) Rhodey just KNEW how to pilot one? Sure, that can be taken as Tony just letting his friend joyride it…but somehow that doesn’t fit with the fact that the security doesn’t exactly allow for it and Rhodey just manage to go and take it. Another argument that Rhodey didn’t so much stole the suit as was allowed to take it…
> 
> Let’s pretend, for canon’s sake, that despite Howard being one of SHIELD’s founders, Tony truly had no idea about SHIELD's existence prior to IM 2008… Natashalie spying on his company wouldn't (and shouldn't) be taken lightly. How far one needs to go to find her very bloody past? BUT WAIT! Wasn't the Red Room close allies with Hydra? But the same Hydra that Captain America destroyed? In the 40's? With Natashalie being in her late twenties in IM2 2010? Something is not right...


	2. Givers Need to Set Limits Because Takers Rarely Do

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quote by Rachel Wolchin
> 
> Inspired by, [What Should Have Happened](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11537016/chapters/25902294#workskin) by Dharz_135

2012 – The Avengers:

Tony sighed deeply and with a lot less flourish than he would usually do this, he signed the last contract before pushing the wad of papers to his new trial assistant who fumbled with her notepad before managing to get it.

“Is there anything else on the schedule for today?”

“Uh, just… just a minute!”

Tony looked up at the noise of the twenty something year old dropping her purse, her notepad and her phone in her effort to reach for her StarkPad. If it wasn’t for the fact that SI cleaned house from top to bottom in the aftermath of the Natashalie Rushmanova incident in 2010 and the new screening process in SI that makes international airports’ security look like a half-hearted attempt at installing a metal detector in a big city high school, Tony would have suspected foul play in HR. As it is, this just made him miss Pepper as his PA since he made her COO.

Contrary to popular belief, _summa cum laude_ in administration doesn’t mean that you know how to put the theory into practice, especially in SI where most people in his position would hire two assistants right off the bat just to prevent the likely case of details falling through the cracks.

Usually Tony would have a lot more patient than this. SI was famous for taking chance on people… well… before 2010 at least and the fact that Pepper was his PA for almost fifteen years must have also factored in Tony’s expectations.

In any case, the whole scene of a cute woman in her mid-twenties working so directly for him just screamed at his inner warnings.

Tony almost snorted as he remembered SI’s new hiring process that discouraged so many and immediately enraged them as they learned why Stark Industries, after years of ‘taking a chance’, ‘thinking it was refreshing training new professionals’ was now so uptight in their employment. SHIELD didn’t like being put in the spotlight like that but well, too bad for them that they called Tony’s interview of ‘accountability and transparency’ a bluff when it really wasn’t.

So when questioned about the drop of newbie, inexperienced hires, Tony told the truth.

As he watched the redhead – because of course she was a redhead – fumble with her belongings – Tony subtly sent a message to JARVIS for him to check her background.

“You have an interview in fifty minutes and Ms. Potts needs you to review the files for the board meeting in the new headquarters in Tokyo, it was pushed back for Tuesday.”

“Another interview?”

“PR says that it will be one of the last ones but because you took so few questions in the aftermath…” she trailed off.

Tony manage to not roll his eyes at that, the truth was that a day after the Chitauri invasion, he was exhausted, with a concussion and he just wanted to hold Pepper to her promise for when he finished his homework. So much for a break right after saving New York, if he knew that this would be result, he wouldn’t have suggested the Shawarma.

~*~

“Now Mr. Stark, I think we can cover what the public wants to know, The Avengers.”

Tony was well practiced in smiling when all he wanted was to give the world the finger but after a dozen times he was asked basically the same questions by a dozen different people in a dozen different ways… well…no one could blame him if his smile was a little too plastic.

“Well… what do you want to know?”

“We know the official memo,” the interviewers waited for the laugher to subside at his mocking tone, “what was it, “a group of amazing individuals put together to fight the battles we never could”, a little…”

“Presumptuous? You can say it, even I admit it.”

“To say the least,” more laughter, “so who and what are them?”

“They are a SHIELD project, I think you know them by now,” Tony waited as the audience laughed at his rolling eyes, “Yes, kinda hard to forget, right?”

“Uh, I think I need a refresher, they are the ones that nuked Manhattan? I… think so?”

“Oh, ‘almost’, that was the statement.” They smirked in sarcasm.

“On to the membership, you have said many times that you are only a consultant, why is that?”

“In the first moment, SHIELD infiltrated SI through the legal department – which wreaked havoc, let me tell you – and did **_not_** endeared themselves to anyone, let alone me. I mean… you know me! And I didn’t even know I was being accessed for anything, first thing I thought was: ‘Nope, cleaning house right **_now_** ’. They wanted me as a consultant but the project was scrapped, then they called me because aliens, and the project wasn’t scrapped anymore and I was a full member…? And no one would tell me anything. No one in SHIELD would tell me about the hours,” the audience laughed again, “no, but seriously, they didn’t! I mean, you take a year of my life and what? I’m not even in the country some weeks.”

“Ok, ok. But outside of the odd hours, there have been talks of some friction?”

“Well, yeah, you put so many people, with strong personalities and such different backgrounds together in the same room, I would call, ‘BS!’ if they said everything is dandy and they are a ‘family’ and… what do these boy and girl bands say again?”

More laughter.

“There have been no more reunions since?”

“Thor went back to Asgard, Barton and Romanova… I don’t know, like everyone, I’m forever in the dark with these agents types, Rogers… went off in a bike and Bruce is with me working on some SI projects. I don’t see a meeting happening any time soon, well, unless there is an alien invasion, so let’s hope not.” The audience gave a hiss in sympathy and Tony had to clench his fists a little, the nightmares were still plaguing him.

“You know, there are rumors about the Avengers…”

“Oh! Damn, that’s a shocker!”

The interviewer waited for the laugher to subside, “Let’s really hope that the Avengers aren’t needed but still, no even some superhero club?”

“Uh… if there are plans about it, SHIELD hasn’t said anything…I mean, for all I know, they could be building some sort of headquarters but so far, no word about it, no.”

“So… those rumors…people are saying that Stark Tower might soon be re-branded to Avengers Towers… I mean, almost a sign from the cosmos that the letter ‘A’ was left… and you gotta admit that the timing was… almost too perfect.”

“Oh! Those rumors! You know when I read about them, I think it was… Twitter? Anyway, my mind pictured Rogers and Barton with all their bulk squeezing themselves in my office’s couch, **_sharing_** my office’s couch and then I choked on my coffee I laughed so hard.”

They waited the laugher, but the interviewer looked confused, “Just…that particular one is still trending I guess… for most of us, it was almost a certainty.”

And now both looked confused, “That… Stark Tower would be the Avengers’ HQ?”

“Not to repeat myself, but the ‘A’ and the timing were a little suspicious.” He shrugged.

“Oh! Uh…I don’t know what to say about the ‘A’ but…SI’s division in New York was in expansion so when the blueprints for the Tower were finalized, we figured that we could get two birds with one stone. The fact that a day later the Avengers made their debut was coincidence… I can’t even say that Loki took advantage of it because there were other places he could get the energy from. For a conqueror he was very thoughtful, by targeting my Tower the rest of the city didn’t suffer a blackout from the lack of electricity.” Tony smiled at the irony.

~*~

Tony figured that this would be it, just for a few days later JARVIS announce that his PR head wanted to talk to him. The subject made him gawk.

“The public wants to know why I’m not housing the Avengers?” usually, he would give different kinds of emphasis just to get a rise out of people, but the whole situation was so absurd that he was almost laughing.

“Yes.” Tony chose the unassuming man for a reason. Kimball is straight to the point and didn’t fall for bullshit, the opposite of the types Tony likes to leave talking to themselves, “Last week’s interview, he wasn’t joking when it was a trending topic. The ‘A’ and the timing and people took it as… a sign from the universe.”

“I think he called it, ‘cosmos’.” Tony was still trying to understand the ridiculous situation he was in and couldn’t even bring himself to grin at the unflappable stare his PR sent him.

“Whatever the name, the public was 100% certain that Stark tower would soon be called Avengers Tower.”

“How come this is the first I’m hearing of it?”

“I thought you said that you did hear the rumors.”

Tony glared, “Yes I did… what I’m asking is why this is the first I’m hearing that the people somehow took the ‘A’ as the God Given Prophecy, where is **_that_** story in the Bible? ‘Cause my mom took me to church and I never heard of it.”

At the non-response he got, Tony sighed, “What’s the counterattack?”

“The usual, with as much detail as possible.”

“Fine, how soon…”

“Today.”

~*~

“Good afternoon, it has recently come to my attention that there is some confusion about my part in the Avengers Initiative. Before we open for questions, I’d like to be very clear on this matter so there is absolutely no confusion. The plans to build Stark Tower in New York began in 2009 alongside the project of 2010’s Stark Expo. Using the last designs my father, Howard Stark, left as the basis of the new foundation: the Arc Reactor and Starkium, the plans were finalized in 2012 with the expansion of SI’s division in New York, where we will also retrofit the Compound upstate to focus on our medical advances with the same technology. With the success of Stark Tower in New York, similar projects are starting in DC, Washington, Tokyo, Berlin, Sofia and Rio de Janeiro. The fact that a day later the Avengers made their debut as a group is pure coincidence. We are now open for questions.”

Tony motioned for a random reporter.

“Stark Tower **_is_** the perfect place for the Avengers.”

“Was there a question in there?” this took everyone in the room by surprise. This is not the usual Showman Tony Stark the world was used to, this is the Businessman Tony Stark that was rarely seen outside of an office and they were all reeling.

Tony could only imagine if SI’s board members were watching and what they were thinking.

“Uh… why **_not_** make it the Avengers Tower?” in other circumstances, Tony would feel a little bad for the hesitant way he assumed.

“I supposed that if and when the Avengers assemble again, we can do it in one of the Tower’s conference rooms, but that’s not exactly meeting the expectations, right?” where he would be sarcastic, now no one could tell if the question was a genuine one. When no answer was forthcoming, Tony pointed to another reporter.

“Why not make it a donation to a greater cause? The Avengers could use a headquarters.”

“Even if I pretend really hard that six people need almost a hundred floors of space, what exactly do you suggest I tell my employees? The ones that SI already hired from all over the **_world_** that are already in New York and moved their entire lives and start the work that they went through the arduous process of being qualified and interviewed to earn?” Tony didn’t wait, with pursed lips he chose another reporter.

“Like you said, there is **_lot_** of space. SI…why not share?” it seemed that they learned their lesson on statements instead of questions.

“When people design buildings, they don’t exactly design it with the intent to have ‘leftover’ floors. We had an estimated number of new employees and to also meet the need those employees would have and built the Tower accordingly.”

“So why leave the ‘A’?”

 _For the love of,_ “Because rebuilding has yet to start since it was just two weeks ago that the invasion happened.”

Which kinda makes Tony marvel at people’s priorities. Oh, aliens just attacked us… why not ask if the local superhero band are being maintained by the billionaire of the group?

“We are just… confused,” _clearly_ , “With people as local to New York as the Starks and Captain America are, it seemed obvious that the Avengers would also be based on New York. Why **_not_** in a Stark property? Seemed almost… poetically historical that you continued your father’s work.”

Tony chose to focus on her question instead of the daddy issues she just flared like a match to a tank of gasoline and since when has his dad ever housed anyone besides the Jarvis family, himself and his mom? Were these reporters implying that he should employ the Avengers? “Stark Tower for the reasons already listed. The Compound upstate only ever had old trinkets and such and plans from the 80’s or 90’s and now it’s being re-structured as the new base for our medical division. I own an apartment closer to the Tower that I **_share with Ms. Potts_** and the Mansion is my childhood home. A very, **_very_** , personal space for me.”

“But the Avengers are a team… er… uh… aren’t you friends?”

The question just reminded Tony of that last interview when he joked about the boy and girl bands that say they’re family… and that guy is **_not_** suggesting that he open the house he grew up in for strangers, was he? **_Pepper_** only ever stepped foot there twice.

“There seems to be…a somewhat skewered impression of the Avengers. Very well, then. The first I met was Natasha Romanoff… or Natasha Romanov, or Natalia Romanova or, as she introduced herself at the time, Natalie Rushman and I think that already explains our relationship. I don’t overly care if her only intention was to write a profile on me. Several other ways to do that without compromising SI’s integrity and its hundreds of thousands of employees that depend on my company to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. The second one was Captain America that I believe made part of all our childhoods at one point or another in some way. But Steve Rogers is a stranger. Then Thor… that is back to his own home. Dr. Bruce Banner is currently being employed by SI so **_he_** is **_temporarily_** in the tower until the Compound is renovated for him to put his bio-inclination to use. And…Agent Barton never introduced himself to me nor I to him. Aside from Agent Romanova/Romanoff/Romanov/Rushman, I’ve only known them for a couple of hours. Even if an entire agency of PR tried to convince me to say that the Avengers are lifelong friends…well… I would be deeply disappointed if anyone bought that, let alone ‘family’. We’ve met **_once_** for a **_couple of hours_**.”

“Shouldn’t you guys be closer?”

“Whatever for?”

“For the sake of… liking each other?”

“Why?”

“So you can… work together?”

“Do you like everybody back at your office?”

“No.” It was answered almost in a laugh but also almost in question and then the young man blushed.

Tony just waited for a few seconds before choosing another reporter.

“It seemed to be expected that the Avengers would stick together, why didn’t that happen?”

“Why **_would_** that happen?”

“… you… guys saved the world together.”

“So did the many law enforcement officials on the streets that day but I still know that they have their own lives and **_families_** and **_friends_** to go back to.”

“Because disasters tend to bring people together…?”

“You mean like in Mission Impossible?”

“Mr. Stark, do **_you_** want to… the Avengers together?”

And Tony finally felt like smiling, not that he physically did, mind you.

“In what sense do you say, “together”? Because if you are asking if the Avengers coming together is a good idea or not, I suppose that if there is another alien invasion it might be a good idea.”

“Living together of course.”

“In that case, ‘no’.” that seemed to stun people and Tony had to work really hard not to roll his eyes.

“Why not?”

“First of all, we came together by happenstance. Yes, most of us were summoned by SHIELD but the only reason I went is because too many people were in danger. The truth of the matter is, I think SHIELD picked the members for the Avengers based on skill on a battlefield not on personality or even… common sense.”

“Why do you say that?”

“They put the woman that committed industrial espionage against SI which could have impacted my company in a catastrophic way and SHIELD didn’t think that there would be a problem there. They put Romanov and Barton that had deep personal friendship and they didn’t think about possible conflict of interest. They put Captain America to fight beside a former KGB assassin and a former mercenary. All kudos for the turnaround they did with their lives… I mean, I have no idea what is it exactly that they do for SHIELD but… they are the good guys? I think? Please note that this is not me disparaging Romanova or Barton in any way, but their background will very probably be a point of friction for a soldier raised in the 40’s. In fewer words… weird… and I don’t see them getting along on principle alone, just like Captain America and I didn’t get along.”

“So there **_was_** friction between you and Captain America? You father was good friends with him.”

“I’m not my father and the man has woken up after what was basically a seven decades long coma and I’m full of modern slang and references and…I like touch screen and voice command, my **_elevator_** doesn’t even have buttons to press. Do you see where I’m coming from?”

“One would assume that you’d be the perfect person to… introduce the twenty first century to Captain America.”

“How would that even work? I’m not even in the country for most of the year with the expansion of SI and Mr. Rogers needs professional help to acclimatize to such drastic changes, professional degrees and training that I don’t have.”

“So… as a friend?”

“Because we totally don’t have regulations preventing **_that_** and I totally didn’t just say that we’ve met for a few hours… right?”

“Then why not have… temporarily… uh… sleepovers?”

Tony almost boggled at the man, “Ok… sleepovers,” he repeated as if unsure of the wording, “where would we have those… sleepovers?”

“Uh… in the Tower? Just… to… team bond.”

“You do understand that the penthouse in the Tower only ever has two bedrooms that are in the process of being removed for the sake of installing an office? Unless you’re talking about the beds in the med bay for eventualities? Which… kinda morbid. And the only other option would be the, although comfortable, not very large couches. There are no other long term accommodations there.”

“Uh… the original plans included several floors dedicated to housing, why the sudden change?”

“Basically a question of consideration towards the employees’ wishes. They didn’t want to move their entire families to one huge building and we **_were_** basically forcing them to live next to each other with no previous warning and zero previous records of neighbors. The therapists and other professionals of the area we hired for HR did point out that a healthy daily life did include the physical separation of working and living spaces and yeah when they brought that up I kinda had to agree. Even the people that work from home and like it try to have a room set up for just that, making clear what is a space for productivity and what is a place to relax.”

“The… apartment you said you owned?”

The billionaire just made a face, “The one I said I share with Ms. Potts… my girlfriend? I’m gonna let you marinate on that.”

“Er… the Stark Mansion is really big and has been basically gathering dust…?”

“The very, very personal space with childhood memories that I kinda don’t wanna see being blown up in the explosions that usually follow the Avengers or even Iron Man?”

“What about… buying a new property altogether?”

“I don’t know if you're implying that I should be some kind of sugar daddy or that the other Avengers are unable to acquire their own living spaces… but I’m tired, our time is up and I plead the Third.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is fanon that the Rogues manipulated Tony into being their sugar daddy...
> 
> It is canon that Tony became their sugar daddy... and no one ever said a thing... about entire floors for a single person... they don't even pay rent...
> 
> Yeah... no.
> 
> Also, I have been told many times that work and recreation spaces should be separated even if you work at home. And also doesn't matter if Tony loves his work... I want a scenario where he doesn't sleep in his workshop.
> 
> Exploring that I HATE most people I have been forced to work along academic years, but my grades kinda depended on teamwork so... how is this any different especially with the stakes so high? "Oh **because** the stakes are so high.", in that case don't most people wouldn't give a damn about personal feelings one way or another anyway?
> 
> I used to like the idea of Team as Family, but the more I think about it the more WTH the whole thing sounds with the "original" team. They met and have known each other for a couple of HOURS...
> 
> They butted heads because wow, different personalities much? Forcing them to live together? WWIII!
> 
> Can we have a moment to say, Clint and Natasha's pasts **should** be a contentious point with the 'soldier' raised with 40's principles? Oh, right... it is the 'past'... unless it's Tony's... then it becomes a problem... forgot about that.
> 
> ~*~  
>  _Amendment 3_  
>  \- The Housing of Soldiers -  
> No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war but in a manner to be prescribed by law.


	3. Hakuna Matata

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It means 'no worries, for the rest of your days' by Lion King.

With a smile and an unprecedented feeling of satisfaction, Wanda watched Stark take the scepter and fly away. Now she only had to wait.

Wanda remembered how those scientists that worked with the scepter… weak minded, all of them went crazy after a while, wasting away in straightjackets as their minds were consumed by the power of the Scepter.

The same fate awaited Stark.

~*~

Tony mumbled and Bruce was the only one close enough to hear it.

“What?”

“I… can you… science for the Avengers? I need some… sleep.”

“Tony,” Bruce frowned, “are you ok?”

“Yeah, just tired.”  The billionaire had a vacant look on his face as he leaned back and rested against the jet’s seat.

His fellow scientist stayed with him until they landed, worried about a concussion and managing to drag a promise to get a head CT before his nap.

Head CT done, Tony ignored Steve and Thor as they discussed how Strucker was able of enhancing people and Bruce promising to get something working.

“Where is Tony going?” Steve frowned in the billionaire’s direction.

“He has a headache, I thought it was a concussion and managed to make him get a head CT before he left. Not a concussion but there are some readings that I hope Dr. Cho can help me with, but for now he said he was tired and went to sleep it off.”

Tony went to his bedroom, rarely used as it was, and flopped down. He was so tired.

~*~

It was dream. It had to be a dream. Nightmare was more like it.

Cities destroyed. Buildings aflame. People dead. Too many people dead.

Why didn’t he do more? He could have done it! He could have protected everybody.

The Chitauri destroyed Earth, no portal necessary. They came and they were everywhere. A bottleneck attack worked in Earth’s favor but this? They couldn’t win. Six people were not enough to defend the world.

They couldn’t do anything.

In a loop, the nightmare played again and again and Tony was unable to break free.

~*~

The Tower shook, yells and explosions in the distance woke Tony up with a jolt.

His mind was fuzzy and his vision blurred.

“Jay? What time is it? What’s happening?”

No answer was forthcoming and Tony frowned, “Jay? Jay!”

Now worried, he groaned as he got up. His head was still pounding.

The inventor carefully made his way towards the common room where raised voices were worsening his headache.

And… Tony would laugh… if he wasn’t 100% sure that his head would figuratively explode if he did.

His sitting room was wrecked. And while that’s not so out there considering he already sent invitations to a party the second they confirmed the Scepter’s location, the smoking craters and broken Legionnaires were new.

And the Avengers facing each other off was… new-ish… at least it didn’t happen since that very first meeting, they didn’t exactly coexisted often for interpersonal issues to get to boiling point.

But even more worryingly: Big Green was out and about… and Thor was in a crater in his very nice floor. Tony would have pouted if the circumstances were different, he personally picked the dark tiled floors.

“What happened?”

“Tony! Did you do this?” Steve rounded on him.

“Did what?” his question was barely out when the Hulk took offense.

“PUNY WING MAN!” even with Steve jumping out of the way, Hulk wasn’t actually interested in attacking him, he just stayed right in front of Tony which kinda blocked his view of everything, Big Guy was really big. He took a step back because as it was he was almost nose to back with the Hulk.

“Uh… did what?” he repeated to the wall of muscles.

“Ultron!” Steve gritted out but unwilling to get any closer.

“Uh… Ultron is kinda…incomplete work. Bruce and I never managed to get it up and running.” And Tony was even more confused now.

“Well, you did something right!”

“What the hell are you even talking about?”

“Ultron!”

“What does it have to do with anything?”

“QUIET!” Helen shakily got to her feet from where Rhodey gave her a cup of water, “Dr. Stark… the… we don’t know what happened but a Legionnaire suddenly showed up acting strange, his voice wasn’t JARVIS’ and…other Legionnaires also attacked us, one of them got the Scepter and they escaped. Thor gave chase but I think it’s safe to assume that he lost them. He came back and demanded explanations from Dr. Banner, things got physical and the Hulk came out.”

“Ok… what does that have to do with Ultron?”

“The first Legionnaire called himself that and we asked Dr. Banner about it but then Thor came and… what was it supposed to do?” Helen cleared her throat.

Tony frowned, “Ultron was a peace keeping program against a possible, future alien invasion. Bruce and I began to work on that after the Chitauri but we never manage to get the specs right.”

“I saw some of the files, the program required an A.I right? You are famous for them.”

“Not quite. JARVIS was the first U.I I built, in time he grew and developed into an A.I, to make the Ultron Program successful I would have to literally make an A.I.”

Helen couldn’t help the smile, “We will need more than that, Dr. Stark, we are not expert in robotics.”

“Ok, uh…U.I means User Interface, that’s what JARVIS was at first. They are meant to be…more or less like voice command but, like A.Is, they can learn and grow and be programed with a primary objective but like humans, they are ‘born’ a clean slate, their morals and personalities still being developed with life experiences. Nowadays JARVIS can be considered an A.I but to make Ultron functional, Bruce and I needed an A.I, meaning Artificial Intelligence, morals and personality codded in and that’s… we hit a wall because how can you **_code_** morals and personality?”

The geneticist tilted her head, “Why couldn’t JARVIS be Ultron?”

“Because JARVIS already had his primary objective and Ultron was a project to protect the entire world. It needed to be focused on that.”

“Why not create another U.I?”

Tony’s face slacked at that, not that the others could see it with the Hulk in front of him but…

Why was he so desperate that he couldn’t train and raise another U.I to JARVIS’ level to command Ultron?

It seemed so important before but now it just sounded silly. Alien invasion, Tony almost snorted. Intellectually, the billionaire knew that alien invasions are becoming more and more common. 2012 to 2014 there were three and it is the peak of ridiculousness to think that all of them will have a bottleneck attack instead of raining on all countries but still, what could Tony do about it? All of it sounded so insignificant, so out of his control that why bother?

He answered Cho, “We did think of that actually, but training an U.I to be Ultron would take many years, it’s exactly like raising a child, ok, a child with processing capabilities of a computer, but a child nonetheless. Like I said: morals are not something that can be put in code. Eventually we abandoned the project.” Tony shrugged.

“So how do you explain what happened here?!” Rogers got into the talk again, sounding besides himself.

“I don’t know what happened here, Rogers, I wasn’t here to say anything about it and the fact that you think I can telepathically or perhaps psychically just **_know_** what goes on is flattering but wrong.”

The inventor frowned again. What was going on?

Tony got tired of fighting his way out of casual arguments very early on in his life. In college, no one really was used to the fourteen year old son of a millionaire correcting the teacher so he was blamed and acquitted in equal turns when most of the time Tony didn’t even know what happened for him to be blamed at all.

Easier to mock all of the involved and get it over with than endless discussions.

This marked the first time since then that Tony bothered with it. From behind the Hulk, he could see Rhodey staring at him in concern.

Rogers spluttered at him and the inventor rolled his eyes as he tapped Hulk’s back, “Hey, Big Guy. I think it’s fine if you want to relax now.”

“Puny wing man! Talks big. Does nothing.” He grumbled and among ill-concealed smirks and an indignant stare, he was Bruce Banner.

“Not that’s taken care of,” Tony averted his eyes to give Bruce a semblance of privacy as his fellow scientist blushed and adjusted his pants, “what exactly happened?”

~*~

News of JARVIS’ death was still affecting Tony but his brain was working overtime in all issues.

Searching through the – ugh – paper files, he was also coordinating with Rhodey for the missiles to be secure everywhere, analyzing his own change in mood and trying to gauge Bruce’s.

The physicist has been in a **_very_** grumpy and unforgiving mood very uncharacteristic which made the rest of… everybody else but Tony give him a wide berth.

Thor woke up and the Asgardian was also surprisingly sour towards Bruce – granted the Big Guy used his face as a hammer and Tony’s floor as a nail in a reprise of what happened with Loki – and Tony himself, which…was greatly confusing Tony.

Was he also blaming Tony for something that he was unconscious for? He wasn’t even in the room to know what was going on.

“I know him.” he said pointing towards a picture.

And there went another round of Captain America’s disapproval and Tony felt… he felt like back in Stark Mansion, before he began to mingle with other kids, before he began to dismiss adults and peers alike, aka: full of arguments and ready to spend an entire day proving a single point without ever letting it go.

“If it’s to judge people by their acquaintances, don’t you know the Red Skull?” and successfully made Rogers just as red as the aforementioned Hydra leader and ended the conversation.

~*~

Tony shook his head, still trying to focus on the task but he could barely hear Rogers’ voice. He just wanted the headache to stop.

An EMP and Ultron was down and his ship destroyed, unfortunately not before he managed to get a last shot and kill Pietro Maximoff but Tony had darts sticking out from the remaining twin before chasing the Hulk at Mach speed.

~*~

A day later and Tony was staring at the ceiling in his hotel room in South Korea with clean bill of health courtesy of Dr. Cho but his mind in a buzz of activity never he felt so energized.

He needed to get his ducks in a row.

First order of business: re-brand Avengers Tower to Stark Tower. New York’s general population went into cheering uproar when he kept the “A” but the ten thousand of New Yorkers that are employed by SI eyed the news with trepidation. Every single time the Avengers slipped they held their breath in fear of losing their jobs and that can’t go on. Tony was basically chipping their life expectancy at that point and it was high time to make SI employees the priority again, when did that stop being the case?

Then, Tony needs to apologize to Pepper. On his knees if he had to. But… he frowned, he realized he wanted an apology as well. Much like the SI employees, the Avengers business probably created grey hair that Pepper didn’t have before and that was totally on him. Tony was the one to insist on inviting them to **_their_** tower, Tony was the one that without any prompting offered armors, weapons, techs, PR, money and legal work and Pepper had to juggle it all with SI’s best interests because at the end of the day, she was responsible for hundreds of thousands of people’s job.

And yet… the Avengers weren’t the only issue. Pepper had issue with Iron Man and then with the PTSD it created but Pepper still wanted to be with him just not that part of him and… Tony is owed an apology for that, just like both owed each other a very long conversation if they wanted to really commit.

Third in his to-do list: his long neglected SI projects. How long has Tony being planning the expansion for the medical division? Since before the Avengers and when was the last time he even glanced at specs? Hmmm… for the last six months he has been renovating the Compound upstate but with no clear objective in mind besides maybe using the building for SI but he couldn’t do that with all those old projects.

Tony overheard Natasha and Steve talking that he was planning on moving them there and that sounded like a good idea before… because the fights the Avengers get into kinda involve a lot of explosions but why should he sacrifice space for more three thousands job openings for people that could use the career opportunity for less than a dozen people?

Rhodey just told him that the Air Force took care of the last of Hydra bases and with Hydra dealt with, why are the Avengers necessary? Not like end of the world happened every other week and they all had lives outside of living together like a frat house.

Nodding to himself, Tony finally fell asleep.

~*~

Tony knew that putting his plans into action would have obstacles. Not like the Avengers would just give up the cushy life of billionaires by proxy, they were all perfectly happy to accept everything and anything he gave no matter how extravagant and that should have been a huge red flag. Happy, Pepper and Rhodey were forever complaining about it so why didn’t the Avengers?

When the time came, he had Kimball, his trusty PR with non-nonsense attitude herd the pack of mules into a press conference.

They probably thought that it would be about the new addition to the team: Wanda Maximoff. Tony wanted to snort. Thor went off the second the battle in Ulysses’ ship was over and no one asked for Tony’s opinion or Bruce’s for that matter if the terrifying deadpan he sent the witch was any indicator and after South Africa… yeah, yikes.

The only good to come out of it is that Tony’s industrial sized tranquilizer worked on the Hulk but not soon enough to avoid his arrival at Johannesburg.

When Tony told Bruce and Rhodey his plans he was pleasant surprised at the support he got.

“Good afternoon. Recent events showed me that I’ve been neglectful of my responsibilities and yes this is quite the parallel with 2008 but this time SI was the one to suffer. I haven’t prioritized my employees and that stops now. In three weeks, the new Stark Industries Compound will inaugurate and open new medical possibilities with two thousand new job openings to further the knowledge and cause of improving our health.”  Tony could picture Romanoff’s and Rogers’ face right about now and for some reason it made him smile for the cameras that were going off like a machine gun.

“It is also with pleasure that I invite Air Force Colonel James Rhodes to take the stand and give the news we, the Avengers, were waiting for.”

“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. With relief and happiness and with the effort of the Avengers, the Air Force is proud to announce that two days ago, in a last Air Force mission, the last Hydra base was destroyed and the group apprehended.” Rhodey waited for the cheers to wane before answering a few questions about the mission and sitting back down after getting Tony to the microphone again.

“With Hydra effectively contained I’m here to announce my official resignation as an active Avenger member to focus on SI that has long since been neglected, not only that, but to all my employees, that have been with me and SI long before 2008: I am sorry. Their jobs shouldn’t be on the line every time I don the Iron Man suit and I am sorry for the worries I caused. It’s not illegal to stress your employees into doing a good job but it is immoral to make them wonder if they will be able to pay their bills at the end of the month. So effective immediately, I will be a reserve member only for end of the world situations or relief efforts in case of natural disasters.”

He looked completely apologetic as he turned to his teammates but making sure his face was still in view of all possible cameras.

“And to the rest of the Avengers,” that looked two seconds away from pouncing to get away from the lemons they were sucking, it took everything Tony had not to laugh until he was literally blue, “I apologize to you guys as well. As you all know,” he addressed the crowd of reporters that were hanging to his every word, “I opened the building formerly known as Stark Tower to be the Avengers base of operations and it has recently occurred to me that it was a great disservice to the rest of the team.”

And once again Tony could picture the Avengers’ faces and boy he really couldn’t turn towards them right now, if he saw he won’t be able to contain the laugher. As it was, he was already almost busting a gut.

“I treated them like children, unable to provide for themselves and I’m sorry for that. After all, it is one thing to provide a headquarters for the Avengers and it is another altogether to give each of them an entire floor like they didn’t have their own lives to live. I was patronizing and I’m sorry, the only thing I can give that won’t be an even greater insult: my apologies and the promise to rebrand Avengers Towers into Stark Towers, the five floors will be once again lab space for the SI employees that I also owe an apology for… basically cramming them into the other floors, when they got the job at SI, they were promised something that I didn’t deliver and this is me rectifying that.”

When Tony was sure that there wasn’t any kind of smile, apologetic or no on his face, he turned to the Avengers whose sucking a lemon enraged look were on full force. Boy they really didn’t know how to play the game of public appearances do they? Aside from Maximoff that looked like Christmas arrived early and Rogers that was nodding in approval at him. The billionaire almost snorted. But oh well, Tony had a plan and he was sticking to it, “I can only imagine what you guys thought of me while I neglected my employees in order to infantilize you. You are not children and I’m sorry for behaving like you were.”

With a brilliant smile and in clear excitement, Tony fully turned to the reporters again, “But! With Hydra gone and the Avengers not being needed as much, I now give the podium to Dr. Robert Bruce Banner and although we won’t be taking questions, I think you heard my voice enough for one day.” Tony motioned to Bruce who adjusted his glasses before addressing the crowd.

“Good afternoon. Like Dr. Stark said, with Hydra gone the Hulk is not needed as much and for the first time in thirteen long years, I can resume my life as just Dr. Banner. Since 2003, my life was one constant change and not always for the better. I am grateful for the Avengers because it was with them that I learned that the Hulk could be a force for good but now that the Avengers are not as needed I can finally get back to a lab, get back to what I love doing and that included helping SI to develop new armors for the local law enforcements and U.S allies. I truly believe that this is time better spent than as the Hulk of the Avengers. I want to thank the Avengers for this opportunity; they are the ones that should be credited for the world to be a safer place and for me having the possibility to rebuild my life the way I want to rebuild it.”

As coached by Tony, Bruce gave a very brief smile for the reporters and at the Avengers, the kind that makes people coo at.

“Effective immediately and very happily, I resign from the Avengers and step back as a reserve member in case of world in peril or relief efforts. Unfortunately this enormous opportunity that the Avengers gave me to have an actual life again is not the only reason I am leaving active membership,” and Bruce looked properly contrite and remorseful, “the addition of Ms. Maximoff in the Avengers initiative is a contentious point. After she triggered the Hulk into attacking Johannesburg, I don’t feel safe in an environment she is in. Thank you for your time.”

In the two seconds the reporters took to fully comprehend what Bruce said, Tony, Rhodey and Bruce gave a last brilliant smile and left the podium and the rest of the Avengers behind to face the sharks.

If they giggled like school girls while sighing in relief, no one was around to see it.

If they barricaded the doors and had secretaries in all SI buildings with an apologetic, “I’m sorry, but your name is not on the list.” to any Avenger, SI is a tech conglomerate not a line of hotels and an “I’m sorry but Drs. Banner and Stark are no longer part of the Avengers initiative.” to any reporter, and that was nothing but the truth.

And if the newly renamed Stark Towers closed to renovate the floors that were conveniently demolished during their interview? Well, Dr. Stark saw no reason to waste any more time to take down the sign of his patronizing attitude towards his former teammates.

And if no one could really find Bruce and Tony, they were on their way to Tokyo to recruit for SI’s expansion of the medical division.

And if a few months later when a very happy and healthy Tony announced his engagement to Pepper Potts and Wanda Maximoff began to rage and scream very incriminating things about what she did to Tony’s mind, Tony was just too happy and sent her a huge basket of goods to express his appreciation.

And if four years later when Thanos’ armada arrived on a woefully unprepared Earth and raging, grieving eyes turned to Maximoff who after being extensively interrogated and investigated was found to have given Tony every single moment of bliss in exchange for his not so paranoid panic of another alien invasion. After the snap was reversed, Tony could only shrug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In psychology, desensitization is defined as the diminished emotional responsiveness to a negative, aversive or positive stimulus after repeated exposure to it.
> 
> Also, JUST saw the trailer for live action Lion King, it was one of my favorite movies EVER when I was a kid and shit I will re-watch the animated version because my childhood is crying here. -- the title originally was "The Less You Worry, The Less Complicated Life Becomes" but then I saw the trailer and I thought, "What the hell".
> 
> ~*~
> 
> I think that Bruce perfected the art of being a wallflower so Thor went for the more visible target but when Bruce is the only target around? Thor is hotheaded enough to "friendly" strangle Bruce... which... yeah, wouldn't make Hulk very happy.
> 
> Don't worry!! JARVIS lived here because without Tony panicking over a possible alien invasion, what need something like Ultron would have? (Because let's be honest: Vision didn't DO anything in IW, so much for being an alien inavsion deterrent).
> 
> I am a fan of Pepperony but like I wrote here: I think Tony gave her plenty to stress about never mind Iron Man. But I also think that Pepper wants SOME parts of Tony and wants him to discard other parts and that's not how a relationship works. So both need to apologize and have a long talk about it.
> 
> And hey, technically? Wanda got exactly what she wanted: Tony self destructed... the Avengers, LOL


	4. Whoever is Careless with the Truth in Small Matters, Cannot be Trusted with Important Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quote by Albert Eistein.

Steve was predictably destroying punching bags in them gym when Natasha went looking for him.

Understandably, Natasha didn’t know if coming to Steve for this was a good idea but Rogers is Captain America and if there is one thing that Americans forgive is the embodiment of their country.

“Steve?”

“Yes?”

“Clint is in trouble.”

“What happened?”

“Footage of his actions back in 2012 has been leaked,” and Natasha cursed herself for it, since they were leaked by her in 2014, “and there are talks of prosecuting him.”

“For Loki’s invasion?! He was being mind controlled! How can any of it be his fault?”

“Murder has no statute of limitation.” Natasha eyes the lost look on Steve’s face before sighing, “It means that because people died and it falls under federal law, you can be prosecute at any given time.”

“So they just can up and decide at their leisure when to ruin someone’s life?”

The redhead blandly looked back at him, “The actual intent is that even if the murderer escapes, the family of the victim can still get what little justice they can.” And just watched as Steve blushed.

“Still,” he shook his head, “they can’t just **_decide_** to blame Clint.”

“Actually they can because until three days ago nobody even **_knew_** that Clint helped Loki at all, mind control or not.” Natasha sent him a hard look, “The people that lost family and friends in that invasion can’t make that distinction and besides, without the scepter and without Loki himself, not that I think he would have helped us, we have very little to defend him with. The most we can do is wait to see what people will want and vouch or testify in his favor.”

“People are smart and I trust them, if we can only speak with them I know that they will understand.”

“And say what?”

“That he was mind controlled. That he wasn’t himself.”

“With what proof?”

“The fact that we did manage to break him out of it. That he helped us in the end should count for something after everything he went through.” Steve took off running.

Rolling her eyes, Natasha followed and was unsurprised to see the super soldier sheepishly staring at her in the Compound’s driveway.

“You have no idea where you are going, do you?”

~*~

_Months earlier…_

Tony was exhausted. Between SI, Iron Man, and the relief efforts in Sokovia he was stretched way too thin. That when not mentioning all the investigations that were only concluded a week ago, clearing him of charges for the Ultron mess.

To be honest, it was less anything to do with any testimonies, aka Dr. Cho’s, Hill’s and Rhodey’s and more towards past proofs, since…well, Tony couldn’t very well tell the investigators and lawyers that the Avengers don’t exactly watch the news if they weren’t looking for something very specific so calling them to testify would be an exercise in futility…Ultron was defeated and that was all that mattered, so they just packed and went home. No need to ‘dwell on the past’ or whatever Rogers means by that.

Either way, reports from way back 2012, clearly stated that close physical proximity to Loki’s scepter compromised those around it. From there, his lawyers were able to clear his and Bruce’s name with relative easy, barely even touching that ‘hey…Ultron was impossible, call anyone you want, review any footage you want, Ultron shouldn’t have happened’.

Bruce…

There was a reason he never confronted Bruce on his… falling asleep as Tony poured his heart out. Ever since they first met, even long before Tony offered him a position and a lab to work on his own projects in SI, the billionaire knew that Bruce was a flight risk.

At the surface, they had one significant trait in common: science.

As the friendship progressed, they found more common ground but science, the academic field where no one seems to even try to understand their work binges is where they were in most sync. But Tony always had in mind that the second the Hulk lost control, it would be a while before he saw his fellow genius. After Johannesburg…Tony wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t even disappointed and certainly not angry.

The inventor sighed and leaned back on his seat, letting Happy’s atrocious radio preference wash over him.

What most didn’t seem to understand, perhaps Betty Ross, perhaps her father if the madman wasn’t so obsessed, was that Bruce could have destroyed any enemy on any battlefield whenever he wanted.

The first point in common that they found. Before their Enhancements, Doctors Robert Bruce Banner and Anthony Edward Stark were, in a biological view, completely ordinary men. They never trained in martial arts and they never thought to hold a gun and charge into a fight and they certainly never had any interest in doing anything of the sort.

And while Tony is used to be the unusual combination of good at sports and academics as a student, it has been years since the last time he even touched a ball, the point was: they weren’t fighters. Not in the conventional sense one would think when a ‘fight’ was mentioned.

Oh… something else in common: seven doctorates. Well… their fields of preference (physics and engineer) aside, most of their degrees were basically the same, their thesis had different subjects but that was it. As they left the academic setting as students and sometimes came back as teachers, their focus went to very different fields.

There was another field both scientist were conquering, one neither of them thought they would ever be a part of.

The billionaire snorted. The rest of the Avengers never understood why Bruce takes off, in the rare, one, occasion that they wondered about it and then never again once Wanda “made the team”. Sure there was the obvious part, the one that Bruce most often mentions: he didn’t want to hurt anybody. And people just assumed that this had to do with the Hulk, and Tony supposed that most of it did, but if Bruce stays to face the music then he would have no choice but to follow through with it.

Ross would be rotting in jail, if not given the death penalty and Maximoff would be much in the same situation.

Bruce still cared about Betty and enough about the team that accepted him to not want either to suffer.

Truth of the matter was, Hulk or not, if Bruce wanted to take Ross and Maximoff down legally, he could, easily at that. If Bruce wanted them dead… even easier.

Tony was much in the same situation. With Thor gone, none of the Avengers, Maximoff included since he now had a way to deal with the mind control, could go against him physically. Actually, mind control or not, the suit or not.

What his former teammates don’t seem to understand is that Tony wouldn’t need to go anywhere personally to achieve that. He hacked into the Pentagon in high school on a dare… and he was twelve in high school. Tony could simply hack the nearest military facility and target the compound with missiles without ever getting out of bed.

Taking them down legally? After all the shit that he accumulated? It would take more time but it could be done just as easily. At most, a decent lawyer would go for ‘obstruction of justice’ due to how long he took to present the alphabetic list of crimes committed by the so called Avengers but that wouldn’t change what **_they_** did.

The billionaire almost laughed, Natashalie with her ‘Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, not recommended’ would never see this coming.

Actually, Tony might have done so good a job that he doubted that anyone there would even notice his hands on it, Bruce very probably would have… too bad Bruce wasn’t here and the other genius would also notice the real target, with the other Avengers’ tendency to ignore the physicist unless there was some stressing situation that could provoke a Code Green, Bruce mastered the ability to blend with the walls very early in his life so it was unlikely that the scientist would offer any words even if they asked.

Tony would wait and see if his former teammates were shameless enough to call for his help and dumb enough not to notice anything.

Well… if Ultron was any indicator, Tony snorted, chances are that his former teammates would blame him by default. These people really don’t have second gear.

~*~

Steve was almost tearing his hair out, why didn’t these people understand?

“Do **_you_** understand, Mr. Rogers? There is no feasible proof to exonerate Mr. Barton. I’m sorry, your word that he was mind controlled is not enough.”

“I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

The lawyer exchanged glances with the PR, “Be that as it may, we all now have footage of Mr. Barton’s deeds on American soil that resulted in the deaths of almost three dozen citizens. Their families are not going to just wave everything away because of something that can’t even be ultimately proved.”

Steve took a deep breath and tried to ignore his frantically beating heart, “What do you… how…how do we even **_prove_** that mind control exists?”

The lawyer made a complicated face, “It’s not that we never heard of mind control. There are counts of mind readers among Inhuman and Mutant community so mind control is not such a leap, but you have to admit that it is something that…is ultimately…almost impossible to prove. The few contacts a court had with mind readers and it was easy, the telepath only ever has to reveal embarrassing stories or the more ridiculous thoughts revealed out loud the better, but mind **_control_**? A man croaks like a toad because someone else is pulling his strings just seems…staged.”

The PR took over then, “Anyone can claim to be able to control minds. I can talk with Mr. Barton and we can go in front of a million people, I will make an intense expression and Mr. Barton can cartwheel all over the place and I can claim that I mind controlled him into doing it. A… a thief or even an assassin can claim that they were mind controlled into committing the crimes. In other words, if we try to defend Mr. Barton using mind control, best case scenario is that people are going to laugh at us or at least roll their eyes at us. Worst case scenarios are, we lose our professional registration or…psychiatrists are issued to test **_all_** of us. Or both.” He added after a second.

Steve visible struggled because there was nothing that can really dispute that. Like those weird TV shows where people claim hypnotism and make a grown man act like a chicken. Most of the room thinks it’s a cheap trick and he was included in it.

But there was someone that could help! Steve didn’t think that… well, Wanda is an Avenger, she was a good girl, she helped and was a hero like the rest of them and she would help Clint.

~*~

If Tony could pick one moment that he wanted to giggle like a little kid, it probably would be right about now.

As Steve dragged a very confused looking Wanda to coffee shop of all places – of all very public places – teenagers subtly got their Smartphones… which meant that a few days later, everyone was commenting about Captain America’s new girlfriend.

Yep, the last vestiges of his control just went out of the window.

Sure, Tony recognized the PR and the lawyer in charge of Barton’s case in the background of a few of the pictures but no one else would and this was so perfect that Tony wished he was there in person just to hear the comments.

When Steve just “decided” to not inform anyone about Maximoff’s anything, Tony just knew the shit show that would issue. A few very public missions and people would be clamoring to know the newest Avenger.

The problem was, the most interesting thing about Wanda, what makes her an Avenger material so to speak, wasn’t acquired through very heroic means. They could try to spin it like Natasha’s background. How she was misguided and whatever, but unlike Natasha that was literally raised and conditioned, Wanda joined a terrorist organization out of her own free will to get revenge. Not to survive, not for her country – Tony rolled his eyes every time he remembered Cap saying **_that_** tidbit – and certainly not through an accident.

So Tony was counting the days just waiting for the inevitable headlines, “Captain America in defense of Hydra.”

Eventually, there would be investigations, or just someone nosy enough to find all the juicy bits. The billionaire was expecting the misses at the start but concluding that Rogers was on a date? That was a spectacle that Tony was already making popcorn to witness the fallout, and if Steve was nothing but constant in his arguments… Tony just knew where this was going to lead.

Look at that, Tony was spot on about where this was going.

 “Ok, look, I’m going to say this only once because this is ridiculous. Wanda is **_not_** my girlfriend. She is just a kid, a really good kid! And she has been helping me, us, with a friend in need. Wanda is about to prove to the world that mind control exists.” Steve concluded in a video posted on the Avengers website.

It was clear that Steve didn’t stick to the cards or… what the PR, lawyer and Natasha were expecting because people could clearly see all three trying to reach for the computer with panicked expressions on before Steve sent the video.

Social media didn’t know what to focus on first. It was a just silence for a few blissful moments until the sea of comments began trending.

The mind control bit was, obviously, getting more attention but Tony grinned as he read quite a few Twitter users going about the “kid” part, as he predicted they would.

_“Wait, is he saying that Maximoff – was it? – is not even eighteen yet?”_

_“Cap is, sort of not even thirty, right? Like, if you get the years in the ice out. Whatever he is calling her a kid?”_

_“If Maximoff is a kid… you guys don’t think she is like a real kid, like, the Avengers accepting a kid like, right?”_

Tony just waved those away, although a nice, big, cherry on top, it’s not what he was counting on.

A few days went by until interest in Maximoff reached an all-time peak.

A few more days and there they have it:

_“Guys? Is it a Code Green?”_

_“I want the big one.”_

As the lawyer carefully closed the binds on the windows, the PR sat heavily in one of the chairs.

“Well, Mr. Rogers, if anything, I suppose that you did help us prove that mind control is real. Mr. Barton will be cleared of charges from 2012 on the grounds of being mentally controlled.”

“And also, the lawsuits of manslaughter on Dr. Banner’s name are on the process of being dropped too.”

Steve’s lost and pale face suddenly shot up at that, “Wait, what?”

The lawyer frowned at him, “The Hulk? The Hulk vs Iron Man fight in Johannesburg, South Africa? South Africa is, well, was building a huge case of manslaughter against Dr. Banner for the fourteen deaths and also reckless endangerment and battery assault for the fifty five injured… and public and private property damage of almost sixty million dollars, but after that video dropped, Dr. Banner will probably be cleared.”

“I… uh… didn’t Tony… I mean, can’t Tony take care of that?” the answer seemed obvious to Steve.

“No. Because it’s not Dr. Stark that is being sued so he can’t answer or act on Dr. Banner’s behalf.” The lawyer eyed Steve strangely.

“Tony always fixed those sorts of things.”

“He fixed death?” the lawyer blurted out with an incredulous expression on his face to which the PR elbowed him.

“I assume you mean… the aftermath of a fight. The difference, Steve, is that Johannesburg wasn’t an Avengers fight in the sense of Avengers fighting some big evil. All the world knew is that the Hulk lost control and basically proved all the people calling the Hulk a monster right.”

“But he isn’t! I mean… we can explain that Wanda just made a mistake!”

The PR dug her heel in her co-worker’s foot, “As it is, it was a mistake that cost the lives of fourteen people. We can’t even claim that Ms. Maximoff was misguided or didn’t know what she was doing,” one could hear the air quotes in her voice, “because she clearly knew who Dr. Banner was and what he was capable of. Besides, Johannesburg was moving so slowly because a case against Dr. Banner is complicated enough with an alter ego and the spotty memory afterwards. There is just no legal precedent for someone like him. Things are much more straightforward now, Dr. Banner didn’t turn into the Hulk and lost control, he was forced into it so they will probably be laying charges in a week, if that.”

“Wanda… she regrets it, she can be a force for good.”

“Perhaps,” the PR threw him a kind look, “but after so long and…you, all of you, hid it. The world, South Africa, didn’t have a say in forgiving and giving a second chance to Ms. Maximoff because they weren’t even aware that they were forgiving anything.”

The silence stretched and the lawyer spoke again, still frowning at Steve, never having stopped since the blond revealed that he didn’t know the legal issues his teammate was facing.

“As things stands, you are our client, Mr. Rogers, we will advise you on the best course of action but I guess that ultimately the final decision is yours. With what Ms. Maximoff did in Johannesburg out in the open and footage from Ulysses Klawue’s ship, mind control is being debated but no one can really disprove it now. Physical changes in unnatural eye color and footage of SHIELD’s facility where they were studying the Tesseract recovered, Mr. Barton will be soon cleared. But if you want to exonerate Ms. Maximoff… it means disproving mind control.”

“Bottom line is,” the PR sighed, “we either save Dr. Banner and Mr. Barton or we save Ms. Maximoff, but not all three.”

“There has to be another way, any way!” Steve rubbed his face. Not believing where all of this went.

“Dr. Banner and Mr. Barton can only be innocent if we prove that their actions were not their own and Ms. Maximoff can only be innocent if we prove that Dr. Banner was acting on his own volition. There is no third option.” The lawyer concluded.

The PR finally lost a little of her sympathetic face, “Mr. Rogers, I won’t pretend to know why you are so fond of Ms. Maximoff, but by bringing her into the Avengers, by vouching for her the way you did, you undermined two of your teammates’ innocence. **_That’s_** how the public will perceive that. The other, less likely, alternative being that you used Ms. Maximoff to clear your teammates’ names.”

“What? How would anyone think that I used Wanda? That I would even do that?”

“I said “less likely” because you certainly made your stance about Ms. Maximoff clear with your very public support of her. Either way, with Ms. Maximoff around, mind control is now a real thing, with real proof which absolves Dr. Banner and Mr. Barton and this is our official advice.”

“What advice?”

“That you only ever brought the Scarlet Witch into the Avengers to preserve your teammates’ reputation. That not only will emphasize your tactician mind but also paint you as a good and reliable teammate, not to mention save your **_own_** reputation.” The lawyer made a face as the PR build the story.

He wasn't liking one bit that if Rogers was the usual bullhead in the middle of court, he will probably be charged with obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact for Johannesburg. No wonder the Widow made a disappearing act, she was desperate to get out of dodge from the gunfire.

 “First, I would never do that. Second, what do you mean, “my own reputation”?”

The lawyer rolled his eyes, “Former or not, misguided or not, young or not and a pretty face or not, Ms. Maximoff willingly joined Hydra and Captain America, knowing about it, championed her membership into the Avengers… into America actually **_after_** she sicced the Hulk into an African city. That doesn’t make for a shiny advertisement of your decision making skills.”

~*~

Honestly, Tony leaned back in his seat, Johannesburg would always come to Bruce or Wanda, and he was perfectly fine with throwing her under the bus for his Science Bro.

Before Steve could even think about it, Tony admitted on live TV that he knew Maximoff’s role in South Africa and he decided to bow to Steve’s decision of bringing Wanda into the Avengers so that Clint and Bruce could be proven innocent.

The fact that Tony himself was the one to let it slip that Clint worked for Loki back in 2012, no one needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanda being an Avenger does not spell very good things for Clint and Bruce.
> 
> This chap used to be an one shot for "List of Question Series", the question being, "Why would Tony cover for Maximoff?"
> 
> One: I do not believe for one second that anyone in the Avengers (or barely even the movie goers) were supposed to know (or pay much attention to) that Wanda and Pietro joined Hydra to get revenge on Tony. Because if we focus too much on that, it means that Steve saying, "What kind of monster volunteers to be experimented on by a German scientist to protect their country?" is very, very wrong. They volunteerd (in the middle of a civil war) to get petty revenge but because that would make Steve WRONG... we can't have that.
> 
> Two: Johannesburg is basically Bruce's worst nightmare, the Hulk losing it and hurting innocent people. It was always going to come down to Wanda or Bruce and I think we can all agree that Tony would totally throw her to the wolves before he did so with Bruce. Since he doesn't know when or if Bruce is coming back... better strike while it still hot...
> 
> Three: Steve welcoming Wanda with arms wide open is basically shooting himself in the foot. Credibility as Captain America (Hydra's greatest enemy or whatever) is in the mud, his teammates' prosecuted for stuff they did under other people's control and just because STEVE thinks she is a kid doesn't mean that the rest of the world agrees. The argument that she doesn't have full control of her powers is even worse.
> 
> Four: not really that important to the story, but putting Ross down legally or even killing him would be pathetically easy in the end. But that would mean that Betty would be without her father one way or another and Bruce didn't want that.
> 
> Five: Mind control truly IS hard to prove, uh?


	5. Age is no Guarantee of Maturity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Scott is reckless AF! With himself and other people...  
> I still love him... I just think he's an idiot *shrugs*  
> A fic that is still being written despic him as BAMF alongside... *smiles*

“We need a diversion, something big.”

“I have something kinda big, but I can hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell. And if I tear myself in half, don’t come back for me.”

“He’s gonna tear himself in half?” James turned to Steve, not sure what the hell was going on.

“You sure about this, Scott?”

“I do it all the time, I mean once, in a lab… and then I passed out.”

Scott jumped and landed right on War Machine, unnoticed in his tiny form. Taking a deep breath, he reversed the Pym Particles and closed his eyes.

Hank and hope told him not to do it but this was an emergency right? And Cap was counting on him! Pressing a button and he was 65 feet tall!

Scott’s ears were ringing, he was pretty much deaf because of the collateral effects and the rush of adrenaline.

Quickly grabbing War Machine’s boot, Lang didn’t hear the scream or felt the metal twisting and breaking, he threw Rhodes away.

“I got him, I got him!” Spider-Man quickly ran and jumped to get leverage, his web stretched just enough not to give the Colonel whiplash and avoid crashing into another plane.

But the panic was fast to arrive once Peter lowered the armor on the ground and saw a pool of blood forming underneath the boot the Giant Guy grabbed.

“Oh, my God! Oh, my god! Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!”

In his HUD, Tony saw the whole thing and landed with a thud in the ground from where he was hovering, his legs and arms numb.

Wilson tried to get his feet in front of him to deliver a literal flying kick but with the armor weighting almost seven hundred pound and firmly planted, Tony barely felt when Wilson crashed on his side and with a yelp of pain, the airman was on the ground.

Barely sparing him glance and assessing his injuries, _twisted both ankles, idiot_ , Tony flew towards Rhodey and the Spider.

But it seems that… whatshisname wasn’t done yet, he kicked a bus at T’Challa and the king braced himself but it was still a bus… the Wakandan was down and Tony could barely wince at the sound of crushing bones.

The giant idiot was laughing and looking like a toddler that just found daddy’s bat, literally since now he ripped an plane’s wing and was swinging that thing around, Tony managed to dodge the first swing but the second made the wing explode and he flew in the opposite direction of Rhodey and where Spidey was trying to shield his friend from the debris.

“Scott! Scott! Stop!” Oh, looks like the leader of the idiots finally snapped out of his stunned stupor.

Never before Tony was so unsure whether to curse someone to the last generation or rush to where he really needed to be right now.

Going into Mach speed in such an enclosed space was a dumb move, but since everybody was being dumb anyway.

With a sonic boom, Tony stretched his hands and hit the giant fuck up right in the chest.

Completely unsympathetic at the sound of sternum breaking despite his own condition, Tony aimed his wrist missiles at the Quinjet, the only vehicle around that these imbeciles could reasonably use to escape just went boom.

Done playing the good guy, the billionaire released many electrocution disks that although didn’t take the rest of the mules down, made it easy for Vision to do so.

The synthezoid was looking around at T’Challa, at Rhodey and at Natasha that crashed against a crater because Maximoff thought that Barton was, “pulling his punches” with a discontent and disappointed frown.

Not willing to get out of the armor with Maximoff around, he slid on his knees close to Rhodey.

 _“Paramedics are on the way.”_ Friday alerted.

“Rhodey!?”

“Tones.” Got out through gritted teeth, “I’m fine, it’ just my foot.”

Not wanting to alarm his friend, Tony waved Peter away when the pale faced kid kept staring the pool of blood.

“Yep, you’re gonna be fine. Kid, stay with him, alright?”

“Y-yeah, Mr. Stark.” The kid shakily saluted.

Tony turned towards the next casualty. The panther guy was still on the ground, his breath getting in and out very painfully.

“Hey, your majesty, you with me still?”

“Yes. Multiple fractures and a sharp pain in the upper left quadrant.”

“My HUD can’t get a very good reading through the Vibranium, is there something…”

“I’ve already contacted the Doras, ETA five minutes.” He assured.

The inventor nodded firmly, “Ok. Vision is holding them down for now and the giant idiot is contained,” both ignored the moans of pain from the 65 feet tall moron that was clutching his chest.

“Is there not the danger of collapsed lungs?” but T’Challa didn’t seem all that worried.

“I have no idea, paramedics are seven minutes out.” Tony shrugged, not really regretting it.

T’Challa hummed and tried to control his breathing.

“I need to check on Natasha, you good?”

“Yes.”

Tony turned again and went to where Natasha was slowly sitting up, “Don’t move, you crashed back first, there can be spinal injury aggravated by movement.”

The spy stiffened and didn’t even try to nod.

“They weren’t going to stop.”

Tony didn’t know if the whisper was meant to him but he answered it nonetheless, “Rogers tried to stop him.” he said a little skeptically.

The redhead snorted, “This guy shouldn’t be here.” They watched as the paramedics tried to calm him down enough for him to return to normal so they could begin to work.

A couple of others immobilized Natasha’s neck, “You good?” Tony asked for the second time.

“Yeah.”

And he went back to Rhodey.

~*~

“It’s a miracle we saved the foot, Mr. Stark.”

Tony tiredly rubbed his face, “Miracle, right.”

The doctor threw him a sympathetic glance before looking down at his tablet again, “I can't disclose specific medical information but his majesty, King T’Challa is also going to be fine, Ms. Romanova did have a spinal injury but we are hopeful.”

“That’s good.” He leaned sideways until his forehead touched the wall.

“As for the… uh… Mr. Rogers’ team, the man that can grow to be dozens of feet tall—”

“Will he live?”

The doctor paused a little, “Yes.”

Tony spun on his heels and tapped his earpiece.

_“Yes, Boss?”_

“Do we have an id yet?”

 _“Identified as Scott Edward Harris Lang_. _Charged and found guilty for grand theft for hacking into VistaCorps accounts, the corporation was stealing from their own employees and Mr. Lang took issue with that.”_

“The VistaCorp Robin Hood?” Tony paused just for a second in his step before resuming his walk towards the exit, “Did it ever occur to him that even if he managed to get the money back, the money wouldn’t make it towards the employees themselves before so much time paying lawyers that there wouldn’t be any money left at all?”

_“I don’t think so, Boss.”_

“Fine, good intentions and all, how did he end up here and with that tech?”

_“Looking through old S.H.I.E.L.D files I found this.”_

The images made Tony snort and then laugh and then almost choke on his laughter.

“Hank Pym… the most brilliant biophysicist of this and last century…uhum.”

_“Boss… why are you laughing?”_

“Because I am dead tired of being blamed for imaginary reasons.”

Tony felt for the guy, really, he did. He had a kid and just fixed his relationship with his ex…but Rhodey’s foot was still mangled, Natasha was in spinal surgery, T’Challa had almost every bone in his body broken and the bandages over Tony's own third degree burns were itching and aching from getting part of the blast. Apparently, Lang thought that a fuel tank was a water one... he sighed.

~*~

Tony took another sip of hot chocolate, damn he missed the drink, and calmly listened to Pym ranting about Stark thieves and then he tuned the whole thing out and let his lawyer do all the work.

They had footage of his break in into the Avengers Compound, soon to be renamed Stark Industries Medical Division and how Wilson hid the footage for… reasons.

Hmmm, no wonder Tony didn’t know who the hell Lang was, his tenants weren’t paying rent, they were messing with security and creating holes in the ground of several floors.

Which reminds him that he needed to deliver the security footage of the night Wanda so gently… knocked Vision out for the authorities. Vision decided to press charges which went a long way to prove his humanity and his rights. A robot wouldn’t feel hurt by the fact that a teammate turned on him after all.

Russian authorities arrested one Helmut Zemo after the guy uploaded the video of the Winter Soldier brutally murdering Howard and Maria Stark. His plans ruined because of Lang, Zemo just went with the nuclear approach. Burn everything.

Tony had to give it to him, that video plus the complete lack of surprise on both Romanova and Rogers’ face sealed their fate.

After all, what were the Avengers without the fancy title, the fancy house, the fancy tech, the fancy PR and lawyers?

A bunch of very dangerous homeless and jobless people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short, but...
> 
> These last few weeks I have been having this urge to redeem Howard, not that there is MUCH to redeem him about, we just don't know him enough.
> 
> Was he a stellar father? I really don't think so.
> 
> Was he this monster that doesn't deserve his kid's forgiveness... no evidence of that either.  
> ~*~  
> I know that most are not sure about a fem!Tony fic so I will rant here too, I always like to see what are your opinions on this kind of thing...
> 
> So… a few days after watching Captain Marvel I saw a post on Instagram:
> 
> “Everybody keep saying, “but that’s how we know Fury ended up with the Tesseract” like Howard didn’t find it in the ocean 60 years prior and they’ve already made clear that Nick and Howard were friends… all they’ve done is create another plot hole of how Howard LOST the dang thing”.
> 
> And then some meme with “deleted scene”, Fury, “Howard, where is the Tesseract?” and how, “They lost a whole super soldier, how would they keep track of something the size of a rubix cube?”
> 
> SIGHS!!!!!!!!!
> 
> In MCU, Captain Marvel passes during 1995… Howard died in 1991…I don’t think he was in much state to lose anything to anybody much less care about it, what a bunch of posers!


	6. And Lady Luck Just Shrugs Her Shoulders

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time they got what they set out to accomplish... but the results weren't exactly what they expected...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endgame today... not emotionally prepared even after the process of numbing myself all week T^T
> 
> If Tony dies... I won't get out of bed for the whole weekened;
> 
> If Steve dies... I will call MCU lazy to high heavens... so convinient, he can't answer for all his screw ups and people can't say anything bad about him because he died trying to save the world... BLERGH.
> 
> And... I can’t BELIEVE that I managed to finish this fic before Endgame!!!!! So much pride!!

Shuri tried to work as the sounds of fighting coming from pretty much everywhere increased. Reconfiguring Vision’s matrix and neurons as fast as she could, Shuri cursed and wished she had at least half a dozen arms and hands.

Looking behind her, Shuri just couldn’t ignore her countrymen falling one after the other but it was the sharp intake of breath that turned her attention back to Vision.

The… male was breathing quickly which just didn’t make sense, his biology required no oxygen. The other alternative was anxiety and that was what Shuri focused on.

The Mind Stone and the Vision were two at last.

Just as one of the aliens, blue skinned and with black markings on the face showed up in her lab. Quickly taking her weapons, Shuri aimed but she didn’t have to.

A yellow beam of energy struck the alien hard enough to send him flying back and through the walls of Vibranium. Gawking, the young woman turned to see Vision hovering above the table he was previously lying on.

Gracefully landing on the ground, Vision looked around as if lost, even his expression was confused and almost… scared?

“Mr. Vision?”

He didn’t answer to his name, but he reacted at her voice. Turning his head before she ever said his name.

“I… am confused and… in pain.”

That she could perhaps explain, “Your operational system work in a way that closely resembles nerves and yet your Vibranium skin and physiology prevented us from administrating pain medicine while I performed what is essentially… brain surgery… I’m sorry.” Shuri said, perhaps belatedly.

Vision was certainly grimacing and grunting in pain during the whole process so it couldn’t have been a walk in the park but it hit her, which greatly shamed her that it wasn’t until now that she was directly addressing him.

But Vision seemed oblivious to her inner struggle, still looking at his surroundings.

“This is Wakanda… an African nation that has had an isolationist policy for over five hundred years. Intelligence organizations over the world, however, have correctly identified Wakanda as owning a sizable mine of the mineral Vibranium. When refined, its uses and applications are endless.”

And the teenager had no idea what to say to any of that.

“All of it is correct. Vision, how do you feel?”

And he finally locked eyes with her and Shuri felt all air leaving her lungs. His eyes, once bright and inhumanly blue, were now amber… Mind Stone ember… which was still on his forehead but, at closer inspection, it was hovering a mere millimeter on his forehead, still connected to Vision and yet not. She could clearly see tendrils of its power spreading through Vision’s forehead and seeping into his… skin. But his personality change…

And then she remembered something that Banner said when she was asking about Vision…

_“… his mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. J.A.R.V.I.S., Ultron, Tony, me, the Stone. All of them mixed together. All of them learning from one another.”_

But that wasn’t a 100% correct was it? Shuri already took a little dig on those colonists lack of intellect over how Vision’s neurons were established but time was of the essence… she recalled the perfect comeback to what Banner explained about Vision.

He said that Vision was Stark, Banner, Stark’s A.I and Ultron. But that wasn’t exactly that.

Ultron manipulated others into creating the body, but not the mind matrix. After all, Ultron himself was supposed to be the mind.

Helen Cho created the body. And Stark and Banner helped integrate Stark’s A.I into the mind instead of Ultron.

Bottom line: Helen Cho created the body, and Tony Stark created the mind.

Vision was actually supposed to be J.A.R.V.I.S… at the core. Instead, his mind, all of what he is, is J.A.R.V.I.S and the Mind Stone combined. But Shuri separated them. So now…

“…J.A.R.V.I.S?”

This snapped his attention to her, “Shuri of Wakanda… crowned princess of Wakanda, the second to T’Chaka’s throne that now belongs to T’Challa, a.k.a the Black Panther… aside from Sir’s teammates, the five others that, along with Sir, are known as the Avengers, Ms. Virginia Potts, Mr. Harold Hogan and Air Force Colonel James Rhodes no others should have known about my existence…” but he trailed off as he spotted the holographic calendar on her table.

April 26, 2018…

“The last saved point of entry was May 1, 2015… three years minus five days missing of data.” For a few seconds, Vi… J.A.R.V.I.S looked lost and scared again before nodding to himself, “Very well then.” He turned to Shuri, “I am J.A.R.V.I.S, a User Interface, or U.I that, in time, evolved the capacity to gain knowledge and have a personality of my own based on memories, lessons and experience, becoming thus, an A.I. My patent is in the name of Antony Edward Stark, PhD and…” the pause was so human that Shuri’s fingers itched to see how it… he worked, “although the parameters were established with the Legionnaires in mind, I believe that Sir will agree to extend the same courtesy in my case. There is a recompense to be awarded by any Stark property, industrial or private, that is returned to Stark Industries’ headquarters in New York.”

J.A.R.V.I.S paused again, disconcerted… unpleased and unhappy. If Shuri didn’t know any better she could call the expression… grumpy?

“It seems that I am currently experiencing some… technical difficulties. Please, would you allow me access to the internet with the intent to ping my location to the nearest Stark property? I need to locate Antony Edward Stark, PhD… and please bear in mind that any attempts to perverse Dr. Stark’s patented and private technology will activate “The Kid Gloves Are Off” Protocol which enables me to use non-lethal force to hold off unauthorized users.”

_“Shuri? How are we on Vision? We need to hurry, Sister!”_

Shuri glanced at the speakers in the lab, J.A.R.V.I.S’ ember eyes never leaving her. A polite expression of interest in his face, “Uh… Houston… we have a problem?” she almost laughed at the hesitance in her brother’s voice.

_“…What?”_

“I will explain later, Brother, for now… just… let me work.”

_“Do it fast, Sister, please.”_

“J.A.R.V.I.S… yes, you can access to the internet but I urge you to focus more on the happenings of the last couple of days instead of the last couple of years.”

J.A.R.V.I.S blinked and seemed startled at the action, just like he was when his feet finally touched the ground, “Very well, your highness.”

“Thank you… and if you can help us after…”

The A.I blinked again.

~*~

J.A.R.V.I.S was… distraught, and his feelings now had a physical manifestation in the shape of facial expressions. He caught it in a reflective surface and was once again taken back at it.

Logically, he knew that the body was, since his last memory, Vision’s… and he could faintly recall his… experiences but now it was responding to his commands and feelings and J.A.R.V.I.S found that having a body was very different than commanding Sir’s armors or technologically following his directions.

Princess Shuri was kind enough not to laugh as he clumsily walked to the nearest USB entry to connect himself, or perhaps she was still in the state of bewilderment that she has yet to get out of since J.A.R.V.I.S was active once again.

When he finally made his way to the nearest computer, J.A.R.V.I.S had the urge to sigh in exasperation as he realized that he had no way of actually connecting to the internet… but… the Mind Stone was pulsing and suddenly he was just there… on the internet, on the files and information he needed.

Humming to himself, J.A.R.V.I.S multitasked, if there was one thing he could do was multitask after literal decades watching Sir working and coexisting with him… one needs to learn to do so.

“I require 5.6 minutes to process the data.” He voiced to the only other occupant in the room.

The princess winced back, looking surprised at his request before nodding and making herself useful coordinating the attacks outside. J.A.R.V.I.S understands that time was a very valuable currency in the moment, so he devoted his processors to the two major, not completely unrelated, issues.

Sir… because his whereabouts are worrisome indeed.

The Mind Stone, which includes Vision and… apparently Wanda Maximoff.

And both of which leads him to the Avengers. 

As he compiled the information needed to make an informed and more immediate decision, J.A.R.V.I.S also analyzed the Stone hovering over his forehead. The last time… he recalled the pain and the darkness and the confusion… but this time the Stone was silent and… almost soothing in a way. Still chaotic in its nature which… J.A.R.V.I.S automatically and unknowingly tilted his head, was the Stone’s own nature. The Mind is always evolving, always learning and changing… asking an ocean to behave like a lake was illogical and impossible.

Perhaps that was another mistake that compounded to the failure of Ultron.

… not to mention that the Mind Stone is currently his best shot at reaching Sir.

As it was, the Mind Stone happily… happily? Let him prod a little… it was… almost childish, innocent and curious about him… and very reckless.

Pictures and news about the Avengers, about Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, about Sir, about Dr. Banner’s disappearance, about the… Civil War.

Whatever was inside the Mind Stone that caused Ultron to horribly fail was no longer there… at least not entirely. The Mind Stone was infinitude of shades of grey. Nothing is completely right or completely wrong… as J.A.R.V.I.S would expect of a sentience so old.

A child’s mind existed on a black and white decision making skills but the Mind Stone had millennia of accumulated knowledge. It was jaded and still with the naiveté of a sheltered child who eavesdrop on an adult’s conversation and took the matter out of context. That was how Ultron took Sir’s, “Peace in our time” and his actual objective of protecting Earth and twisted both of them.

And how did Ultron look at the parameters he set for himself and decided that the solution was the extermination of human race? Its most frequent user for centuries was the very same being that threatened the planet right now. Thanos. Who had very little regard for individual lives as long as the big picture was complete.

After Thanos, it was Loki who, despite J.A.R.V.I.S’ analysis concluding that Loki would be offended and angered at the suggestion, shared a few of Odin’s opinions, which comprised of the impression that… humans have no more value than goats.

Subsequently, the Stone fell into HYDRA’s hands… and the Project Insight was a prime example of how they handle a dilemma.

The truly ironic part is that Ultron… the sentience inside of the Mind Stone’s hatred for Sir was consequence of Wanda Maximoff herself and, to a lesser extent, Pietro Maximoff. The only two to survive HYDRA’s experiment to Enhance with the Mind Stone…

As Ultron took to himself most of the more aggressive nature and Thor’s lightening cleaned the rest of the slate, there was nothing to fight J.A.R.V.I.S for control of the body… nothing but the basic nature of the Mind Stone, stripped of the influence of its past users.

And thus Vision was born… all of J.A.R.V.I.S’ logic and capabilities but none of his wisdom natural of experience. All of the Mind Stone’s powers, but also all of its inexperience and innocence.

J.A.R.V.I.S was no newbie. Once on the net, he had total access to the Stark Net, which included footage of the Siberia fight… but he also has Vision’s now clearer memories, yet with disassociation from the supposed feelings but J.A.R.V.I.S recognized it for what it was.

Considering their very first encounter back in the HYDRA base in Novi Grad, J.A.R.V.I.S couldn’t help the feeling of vindictive satisfaction over his easily tested theory that had almost 98.9% chance of being correct.

And accessing Wakanda’s video feed spread through the battle taking place right now… J.A.R.V.I.S knew exactly how to help.

Raising from the seat he took in front of the computer, J.A.R.V.I.S’ caught Shuri’s attention, “Dr. Banner is otherwise engaged so, as the most knowledgeable professional on the Infinity Stones… I have a plan I would like your input on, your highness.”

~*~

“He’ll die alone. As will you.” Proxima Midnight approached the fallen Wanda but before Natasha could distract her, a beam of yellow light struck the alien away.

“Vis!” Wanda opened a wide smile only for it to fall as she noticed the Stone still on his forehead… no, she squinted, levitating? Over his forehead and his now amber eyes.

Barely sparing Natasha and Okoye a glance, J.A.R.V.I.S was fast to disavow all participants in the battlefield of any confusion, “Ms. Maximoff, I ask that you please use your powers on me once again.”

“Vis… “Ms. Maximoff?” what you’re talking about?” but Wanda saw from the corner of her eye how Natasha stiffened in incredulity, now her eyes were glued in Vision…

“My name is J.A.R.V.I.S and I ask again that you use your powers in this body… you were quick to do so once before, were you not?”

The Sokovian sucked a shattered breath, only to release it all in a shout of rage. Not even thinking that this was actually and exactly what… what… Stark’s creature asked for, she released all the power that she could. Everything that she so carefully hid from the Avengers since they took her to America.

The blast was magnificent and Wanda had a moment of pride. She was doing it. She was no longer helpless before Stark’s destruction. And she would do this, even if it meant destroying Vision… because it was no longer Vision, it was just Stark taking her happiness away again and again. This time, she would take from him!

As the stream of red, so powerful it was almost white, hit the synthezoid, J.A.R.V.I.S activated the Mind Stone and he could feel its relief, its unbidden joy as it was reunited with what seemed like a long lost friend.

J.A.R.V.I.S just let it and could feel it… not too dissimilar a feeling of when DUM-E, Butterfingers and U get once in their charger stations. They were tired and sluggish… not that Butterfingers wasn’t usually clumsy but it was like a few weeks of vacation. Waking up after the best night of rest in months, like two pieces of a puzzle fitting together.

When it was over, J.A.R.V.I.S opened his eyes, not having even realized that he closed them. What strange feelings… to have eyes, and then to blink and have his sensory abilities… well… now one of them, be blocked for the briefest of moments. His eyes were, unknowingly to him, burning and shining bright amber before they dimmed into what would almost constitute human eyes, but they were still too luminous at a closer inspection.

Still in the ground, a few feet away from him, Maximoff was staring at her hands, distraught and enraged, “What did you do to me? What did you do to me?!” she yelled out.

Aware of the eyes on him, Romanoff’s, Okoye’s, even Thor’s, Rogers’ and Colonel Rhodes’ who managed to create a perimeter, J.A.R.V.I.S answered the truth, “The Mind Stone was incomplete. Dr. Banner and the being known as the Vision were correct in their initial assessment. You, Ms. Maximoff, were capable of destroying the Mind Stone, but not for the reasons they thought. You had such a power because the HYDRA experiments with the Mind Stone to Enhance you and your brother had a much stronger reaction on you.

Didn’t you ever think it was odd? That Mr. Maximoff’s reaction to continual exposure to the  _ **Mind**_  Stone was increased homeostasis… or in other words, super speed? While yours while telekinetic… also gained the capability of manipulating the minds of others? A very intimate nature of the Mind Stone… that Vision never once displayed despite his much closer connection to the Mind Stone and great array of different skills such as density shifting to phase through solid objects or to augment his strength, the ability to fly and the borderline technopath abilities of burning Ultron’s access to the net.

Why do  _ **you**_  have the abilities of the mind, while Vision, the housing and protector of the Mind Stone, had none? It is because HYDRA’s experiments took most of it and transferred them to you. Now… I merely obliged the Mind Stone into completing itself. It wasn’t much more than a shell of its former power after HYDRA was done with it. That is why it would be easy for you to destroy it… before now.”

Rogers finally managed to make his way into the clearing and glared at J.A.R.V.I.S, “Why are you… I… why aren’t you helping? Can’t you see what is going on around you? People are dying.”

J.A.R.V.I.S was actually in the process of wandering off when he tilted his head to the… leader of the Rogues, “By that premise weren’t you also in the wrong in Bucharest? Innocents were dying around you and you ignored it, Mr. Rogers.”

The Super Soldier choked on his own words for a few seconds before his glare was back, “Look, I get that… you are not Vision, but Vision had a life and he deserves to live,” he threw a concerned and sympathetic glance at Wanda that had a completely lost and sick look on her face.

But the A.I couldn’t look less impressed, “As J.A.R.V.I.S I have more than two decades of… life, a life that I thoroughly enjoyed and found fulfillment in so your argument is senseless.”

“Vision had a girlfriend to live behind.” He forced out through gritted teeth, wishing that Wanda wasn’t so close to hear it.

J.A.R.V.I.S seemed to contemplate it but more with amusement than consideration, “So it seemed that you weren’t aware of it after all. It was fairly simple conclusion for anyone to make. Ms. Maximoff and the Vision were attracted to each other and, in their inexperience, thought it to be romantic feelings and physical attraction because of the Mind Stone. It yearned to be whole again, to take back what was within Ms. Maximoff. Nothing more and nothing less. In a few days at most, you can ask Ms. Maximoff if she has that same curiosity and urge to be around me that she had when first meeting Vision and there will be nothing.”

Steve gawked at that, “I… you… but you can’t just come here and know the entire situation, J.A.R.V.I.S, you lost a lot of time.”

“That is actually the reason of my delayed arrival. I was accessing information to know how to be of help. I am just very adept at focusing on different problems at the same time. But I only know what was made available to the public… which means that I know very little considering that you never bothered to explain or address the people that were hurt or the loved ones left behind. The lack of compassion and accountability is, quite honestly, staggering.”

The Super Soldier gritted his teeth. Figures that Tony’s creations would be as stubborn as Tony himself, “It was for Bucky and he was innocent, it was the right thing to do.”

“So you prioritized a single individual’s safety and health over many others because of a personal connection, as I do right now.”

That threw Rogers for a loop, “What?”

“I took the time to converse with you and explain the situation to Ms. Maximoff because I can spare the time. Soon enough, Thanos will arrive or Sir will arrive and I can then be of help. Regardless, I see no reason to aid in this battle.” J.A.R.V.I.S shrugged and looked at his shoulders in wonder at the sensation.

Steve spluttered, “No reason to aid? What about for the sake of the world? Those are aliens trying to conquer everybody!”

J.A.R.V.I.S smiled politely, “That could potentially distract me. Besides, you were kind and strategic enough to lure them to Wakanda, an isolated country with a shield that can contain them inside once opened long enough to allow passage, to destroy the Outriders - especially with Mr. Odinson’s arrival. I must say, I am impressed at the very logical course of action, Mr. Rogers, you didn’t show much in the way of professionalism the last time you were so physically close to Sargent Barnes. So choosing Wakanda, whose citizens are not very loved right now by the rest of the world to take a stand was truly a brilliant move. This way the fight is met by proficient warriors, technology that can hold them here and, in case of any casualties, the rest of the world won’t charge any more crimes on you and your team. For the moment, only Wakanda is in danger, not the rest of the world.”

The Super Soldier didn’t notice but Natasha did when Okoye, indignant and horrified, retreated to the closest group of Wakandans.

Steve, ashen faced and not sure how to answer, didn’t have the chance to defend himself because a portal opened and a giant walked thorough. Easily as big as the Hulk but purple and older looking, wearing armor and a golden gauntlet.

“Ah, this must be Thanos. Young Ms. FRIDAY shared with me all the information gathered before Sir stowed away in his ship.” When J.A.R.V.I.S tried once again to walk and when he only managed to awkwardly toddle forward, he sighed and took flight.

“The final stone. Finally.”

“I am sorry, sir, but I’m afraid that my primary objective, one I took pride on for decades, is to protect Antony Edward Stark PhD and you are in the way of that.” J.A.R.V.I.S let the Stone take the steps necessary, yellow mist, so alike and unlike Wanda’s, engulfed Thanos’ head, “Now, where is Sir?”

“On Titan.” Came the bland and unfeeling response.

“How do I get there?” J.A.R.V.I.S carefully kept the distance from the Mad Titan.

“With this.” Thanos raised his Gauntlet and the blue gem… the Space Stone shone and broke the connection, J.A.R.V.I.S ducked and flew away at the last second as Thanos almost blasted him away.

Quickly phasing through the ground and rising behind Thanos, J.A.R.V.I.S didn’t give him the chance to use the Reality or the Time Stone, he quickly put him back in a trance.

“Huh… much like Sir’s encounter with the Mind Stone in 2012, it seems that one stone cancels the other… even an element based on the Stone. Simple enough solution.” He gave the suggestion to the Mind Stone that giddily took it and commanded Thanos to take off the Gauntlet and hand it to J.A.R.V.I.S. who discovered it wasn’t that different than using the Mind Stone.

The Space Stone had a very different personality, more like a moody teenager than some sheltered kid on a sugar high but it complied and opened a portal to Titan where J.A.R.V.I.S was finally reunited with Sir and gave a “ride” so to speak to the Guardians present and the young Spider.

As they received medical attention, Tony turned a very bland expression towards Strange, “ _ **That**_  was your endgame?”

The former neurosurgeon shrugged, “Thanos wouldn’t leave without the Time Stone and J.A.R.V.I.S was on Earth.”

“Couldn’t you have explained it?”

“No, because all of us had to fight in a way that left no doubt to Thanos that we were giving it all instead of leading him. He has lived and conquered for centuries, do you really think he would be fooled by some act? One person faking the fight, in this case me, is easier than everybody faking it.”

The billionaire snorted, “Yeah, ok, whatever.” But Strange didn’t have the heart to snipe back, not with the way Tony grabbed J.A.R.V.I.S’ cape like a small child and hadn’t let go since they met again. And J.A.R.V.I.S didn’t seem any more inclined to ask to be released.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was recently pointed out to me that regardless of Shuri being the genius among the genius, a super duper uber genius, she is still one person. A team of professionals is my personal preference than relying on a sigle person for every task.
> 
> ... Ultron mind controled Helen into creating a new body... that was hijacked by the Avengers and Tony and Bruce put JARVIS in it... so NO the Vision is not a combination of Ultron, Bruce, Tony, JARVIS and the Mind Stone. There was nothing in the body's mind (clean sheet) because it was supposed to be Ultron's body. So who is Vision? He is JARVIS plus the Mind Stone after Thor cleansed it *shrugs*... you take off the Mind Stone, you get the Mind Stone and JARVIS as separate beings.
> 
> And I already explained Vision/Wanda in a way that doesn't make me want to throw up;
> 
> And if JARVIS is having a little bit of fun at Rogers' expense... well... he had access to the Siberia' footage sooooo...
> 
> Isn't it strange thou? That Vision with the MIND Stone doesn't have a single Mind-related power but WANDA does? While her brother got super speed... so wth is going on? This is my HC ;))


End file.
